^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

I (^A„^,. BE I a I 



I ^/.f .MIjIS \ 




THE 

HIDING PLACE 



THE HTDINCt PLACE: 



OR THE 



SINNER FOUND IN CHRIST, 



Rev. JOHN MACPARLANE, LL.D. 

Author of Night Lamp, Mountains of the Bible, &c. 



THOTJ ART MT HTDTNG PLACE. — Psalm x^xii. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 

144 Chestnut Street. 

1855. 



TO THE 
VENERABLE AND REVEREND 

WILLIAM KIDSTON, D.D., 

GLASGOW, 

THE OLDEST MINISTER OF ALL DENOMINATIONS, 

AND THEREFORE 

Wtiz ifati&er of tje €fimt^ ot Christ in ^cotlanti, 

this volume is, 

with much respect and affection, dedicated, 

by his son-in-law, 

The Author. 



PREFACE 



My object in writing and publishing this volume, 
is to put before the reader such a simple and compre- 
hensive view of ^the way to the Father by Jesus 
Christ,' that if he be at all in earnest about his soul's 
salvation, he must rise from the perusal, if not con- 
vinced and converted, at least in no doubt of the 
place where, and the manner in which lost sinners 
are to be ^ delivered from the wrath to come.' 
The plan of the following work is determined 
by the order of those new covenant titles given 
to our Lord in the Old Testament, which have 
the prefix Jehovah. It is exceedingly interesting 
to find, that, by the proper arrangement of such 
titles, we have the entire scheme of the gospel in 
a system, so that the serious student can obtain 
from their study clear and connected ideas of 
^the will of God in Christ' concerning his con- 
version, pardon, purity, peace, and prospects. There 



Vm PREFACE. 

is necessarily repetition of idea. This I do not 
regret, as I desire my book to fall into the 
hands of thoughtless or indifferent professors of re- 
ligion. It is for their benefit that the one mediation 
should be viewed rep'eatedly and from different points. 
My fervent prayer is, that in all such cases the result 
may be, their awakening from nominahsm, and their 
cordial espousal of the truth as it is in Jesus. 

Until of late, authors of plain and moderate pre- 
tensions were discouraged. ^Why,' it was asked, 
're-publish what has been given to the world over 
and over again ? if you have nothing new^ keep your 
manuscript in your desk, or throw it into the fire.' 
I regard it as one of the greatest of privileges, that 
in these days other sentiments upon this subject pre- 
vail, and that the most humble amongst us are now 
welcomed, as well fr^om the press as from the pulpit. 
By this means, too, we have our sphere of doing 
good enlarged ; and to an honest christian minister, 
no object can be dearer or more desirable. Taking 
advantage of this boon (for I am wilHng to regard it 
as such), I venture to lay this volume before the 
pubHc, in the hope that God will condescend to 
honour it, to do its own appointed work on the great 



PREFACE. IX 

field of ckristian usefulness and enterprise. The 
men of erudition, and genius, and mighty intellect 
in the church are comparatively few, and have their 
own august work to attend to. A more humble class 
of theological students constitutes the majority. To 
them also a peculiar work is in these days assigned ; 
and as ^fellow-workers' with the former, though at 
some distance, they cannot fail to promote the best 
interests of their fellow-men, by doing ^what they 
can,' and offering as they have to give. There was 
provision made under the law for the ^ turtle doves ' 
of the poor, as well as for the costly sacrifices of the 
rich ; and the Saviour has assigned no undistinguished 
place in his gospel church to such things as the mite 
of the widow, the tears of the penitent, and the prayers 
of the saints. 

Since going to press, the venerable man to whom 
this volume is dedicated has entered upon the ' rest 
that remains for the people of God.' Intended as a 
mark of respect for living excellence, it remains a 
tribute sacred to departed worth. 

Glasgow, Ibeoxholm, 
November, 1852. 



NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



Duly impressed with gratitude to ^the Father of 
Lights' for the acceptance which this work has met 
with, in the rapid sale of a large impression, the 
Author sends forth this Second Edition, in the humble 
hope that his book may continue to do good. 

Glasgow, Oct., 1854. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

Page 

■ The principles of the doctrine of Christ,' - _ _ - 9 

Chapter I. 

JEHOVAH. 

' I am Jehovah, that is my name,' - - - - - 29 

Chapter II. 
JEHOVAH-JESUS: THE LORD OUR GOD. 

■ I am the Lord thy God,' ---____ 39 

Chapter HI. 
JEHOVAH-JIREH : THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 

PART I. 

' And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah- Jireh ; 
that is. The Lord will provide,' ------ 54 

Chapter IV. 

JEHOVAH-JIREH: THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 

part II. 

* Take no thought for the morrow,' - - - - ."^ - 67 



XU CONTENTS. 

Chapter V. 
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU : THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

PARTI. 

Page 
' This is his name whereby he shall he called, Jehovah-Tsedkbnu: 
the Lord our righteousness,' ------ 87 

Chapter VI. 
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

PART II. 

* Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him,' - - - - 100 

Chapter VII. 

JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

PART ni. 

* Put ye on the Lord Jesus,' - - - - - - -118 

Chapter VIII. 
JEHOVAH-ROPHI : THE LORD MY HEALER. 

PARTI. 

'I am Jehovah-Rophi, theLord thathealeth thee,' - - -139 

Chapter IX. 
JEHOVAH-ROPHI: THE LORD MY HEALER. 

PART II. 

' Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ?' - - 166 



CONTENTS. XIU 

Chaptek X. 
JEHOVAH-SHALOM : THE LORD OUR PEACE. 

PART I. 

Page 
*Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it 
Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our peace,* - - - - 193 

Chapter XL 
JEHOVAH-SHALOM: THE LORD OUR PEACE. 

PARTn. 

' Let the peace of Grod rule in your hearts,* - - _ - 216 

Chapter XII. 
JEHOVAH-NISSI: THE LORD MY BANNER. 

PART I. 

' And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah- 
Nissi, the Lord my banner,' ------ 245 

Chapter XHL 
JEHOVAH-NISSI: THE LORD MY BANNER. 

PART II. 

' In the name of our God we will set up our banners,' - - 267 

Chapter XIV. 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: THE LORD IS THERE. 

PART I. 

• The name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah-Shammah, 
the Lord is there,' - -- 294 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Chapter XV. 
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH : THE LORD IS THERE. 

PAET II. 

Page 

' He endured as seeing him who is invisible,' - - _ - 320 

Chapter XVI. 

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH : THE LORD IS THERE. 

PART in. 

*ThouGodseestme,' 339 

Chapter XVIL 

THE IMPROVEMENT. 

* I flee unto thee to hide me,' ------- 359 



THE 



HIDING PLACE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

* The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ.' 

Heb. vi. 1. 

There are, in these days, frequently issuing from 
the press, contributions to the science of religion, 
upon a great variety of topics, more or less intimately 
connected with the necessity and importance of vital 
piety. This is a hopeful sign of the times, and if 
a wise use be made of such books by professing 
christians, there cannot fail, ere long, to be an 
extensive revival of religion in the land. Nor is it 
the least encouraging element in this state of things, 
that the publications referred to unite in giving 
homage to the Bible, as the divine source of truth and 
the only ^ rule of faith and manners.' Until recently, 
there were comparatively few modern books that 



1^ THE HIDING PLACE. 

bore directly and exclusively upon the great doctrines 
of the cross of Christ. Hence the lukewarm Chris- 
tianity that prevailed, and to a painful extent still 
prevails among many nominal disciples of Jesus ; and 
hence the dwarfish and feeble specimens of christian 
stature which will indispose our future historian to 
record that ^ there were giants in these days.' True 
godliness, among any people, is not to be formed and 
maintained otherwise than by a humble and thorough 
searching of scripture — this being the only way to a 
just appreciation of the doctrines of the person and 
sacrifice of the Redeemer. Books of religious con- 
solation and excitement are useful in their own place 
and at their own time; but books which purposely 
confine the attention to Christ as the ^wisdom of 
God, and the power of God unto salvation,' are the 
only elementary ones, in the study of which we are 
taught and trained by the Spirit of God, until we all 
^ come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ.' There may be a 
Christianity which is effeminate, and which allows itself 
to evaporate in the dreamy regions of mere sentimen- 
talism. To construct a Christianity which shall be 
sturdy, athletic, and enterprising, there must be a long, 
an earnest, and an enlightened curriculum of study at 
and in the Cross itself. The lessons may be some- 
what abstract and comparatively common-place, but, 
like the bread, which is the staff of human subsistence, 
they are indispensable to christian character and 



INTRODUCTION^. 11 

usefulness. To the repeated study of such lessons 
the reader is here invited. 

To become apt scholars in this school, the subject 
itself must be held in the highest estimation, and 
until it is mastered, all others must be kept in abeyance. 
Other subjects may present more fascinating charms 
to unrenewed minds, but this alone has ever charmed 
men out of their sins, their miseries, and their una- 
vailing struggles after reconciliation with God. In 
other words, it is ^by the foolishness of preaching' 
Christ and him crucified that men must be saved. 
Nor can there be a revival of religion while sucli a 
theme is neglected as an old-fashioned theology, and 
while the morbid craving for crude novelties is unin- 
tentionally perhaps, but fatally pandered to in public 
instruction. To such a style of imparting christian 
knowledge as reared our giants in theology, and 
inspii'ed the martyrs to our faith, there is certainly, 
on many hands, a lamentable dislike amongst us. 
Progress, it is said, is the order of the day; the anchors 
of ancient usages and principles are being lifted on 
every side, and everything is hastening forward with 
a velocity which must soon carry the world far out of 
sight of the ancient landmarkcj. Applied to mundane 
art or science, there is truth in this ; but to the philo- 
sophy of the cross it has no just reference. Christian 
doctrine is eternal and immovable. Improvements 
there maybe in the principles of mere biblical criticism, 
and in the most approved methods for handling the 



12 THE HIDING PLACE. 

gospel plan ; but upon the great first principles them- 
selves, by the faith of which men are saved, addition 
or improvement is impossible. The idea is prepos- 
terous ; it is profane. Are we to expect some christian 
philosopher to be born who shall be a wiser expounder 
of truth than was Jesus himself? Are we to expect 
the rise and endowment of a college of men, who 
shall teach the way of salvation more effectively than 
did the college of the apostles? Assuredly not — the 
christian temple of truth is built already — nothing 
can be added to, and nothing can be taken from its 
stately proportions. If men allow their appetite for 
what is new jLo carry them away, they must abandon 
principles for chimeras, substance for shadows, the 
light of day for the glare of meteors, and God himself 
for man. In these pages, therefore, we seek not to 
amuse by the mere poetry of ideas, or the artistic 
touches of fancy, or the laboured artillery of argument 
dragged by the horses of Egypt over the Palestine of 
gospel story. Here, the materials and achievements of 
unadorned truth are not retired to give place to the 
grimaces and whinings of a sensual devotion, or to 
gratify carnal desires for the spices of speculative 
discussion. Truth is not served up in the dress of 
sceptical harlotry or of academic rationalism. Here, 
the wisdom of God, it is hoped, is in no degree hid 
behind the wisdom of man. Human learnincp is all 
very well in its own place, and its progress must 
enrich and improve the world ; but though it goes on 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

to put to the blush even the learning of angels, it can 
never equal, much less outstrip, the teaching of the 
fishermen of Galilee. And so it shall appear in the 
end. Everything that exalts itself here must and 
shall be brought low, and all the triumphs of mere 
mind, having served their little day, shall dissolve 
with the elements of nature. But as the Lord liveth 
and reigneth, every eye shall yet see, that from amid 
the ruins of all systems, and the conflagration of 
worlds, the solitary survivors that shall rise to meet 
the Judge in the air shall be the cross on which he 
himself died, and the people who lived and died 
glorying only in him and in it. Let us, then, under 
these impressions, proceed to the study and contem- 
plation of that wonderful and soul-saving system of 
truth, which has for its object the incarnate Son of 
God ; for its subject the doctrine of his great atonement 
for sins ; and for its aim the bringing back of a lost 
world to God. And may God grant that while we 
muse, the fire of divine love may bum, and that the 
beauties of hohness may be imparted, together with 
^the peace of G^d that passeth all understanding!' 
Before entering directly upon the grand subject of 
Christ our ' hiding place,' let us glance cursorily 
at some of ' the principles of the doctrine of Christ,' 
which may be said to be foundations upon which this 
^ hiding place ' is reared. 

First Principles require to be both submitted 



14 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and admitted before any science can be understood. 
What axioms or postulates are to mathematics, 
principles are to philosophy and to religion. To know 
and appreciate the fundamental principles of the 
Baconian or Newtonian systems, secures a readier 
assent to the inductions of the one and the elevated 
speculations of the other. He would be esteemed a 
fool who should try to explain the firmamental wonders 
in ignorance of the law of gravitation ; and any pro- 
ject to illustrate the analogies of reason, or explain 
the laws of mind in utter disregard of the approved 
princi])les of modern light, would be universally 
ridiculed. 

Applied to religion^ these remarks rise to un- 
speakable importance. Surely, if anywhere, it must 
be within the province of divine things that acquain- 
tance with first principles is indispensable. In his 
epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle evidently lays great 
stress upon what he describes to be ^ the first principles 
of the oracles of God,' or, ^the principles of the 
doctrine of Christ.' In the following pages, doctrinal, 
experimental, and practical religion is to be illustrated 
and enforced; but, before entering upon this wide 
field, we must first lay the foundation, or state the 
principles to which the apostle refers. From these 
principles the christian system is a deduction, and the 
more simply and clearly they iare stated, the more 
probable is the assent to Christianity as a divine 
revelation — the more certain is the conversion of the 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

soul to God through faith in its Saviour, and the 
more secure is the convert against the suggestions of 
Satan, the plausibilities of the infidel, and the 
temptations of the world. Let us glance then for a 
moment at first principles ; — 

I. There is one God. This is of all principles 
the ^ Alpha,' or the first. It is the ' be all and the 
end air of religion. If there be no God there is no 
religion, because all religion has its reference to his 
existence^and his will. On this supposition, sin and 
holiness are insignificant terms, and it becomes the 
duty of tlie creature to disregard any consideration 
but what contributes to his own interests : a selfish 
prudence, not a religion, is binding upon him. But, 
if there be a God, then it is clear he ought to be 
loved and adored. His favour must be life; his 
displeasure must be death. His favour should never 
be lost, and his anger, if ever incurred, should be, if 
the thing be possible, without delay appeased, for ' it 
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God.' 

n. The existence of God can be proved. 
Atheism is an absurdity. ^ It has no foundation,' says 
Dr Parr, ^in the common sense of men, no super- 
structure fi-om their general habits, no cement from 
their nobler affections, no embellishments from their 
unperverted imaginations, nor pillars fi:om their social 



16 THE HIDING PLACE. 

virtues. It starts up but to vanish ; it towers but to 
fall.' All philosophic principles, therefore, discard 
atheism, because it can be shown, from incontrovertible 
reasoning, that God must exist. For example, — 1. 
Belief in his existence is natural to man. Conscience 
is a power in every human heart, and it uniformly 
declares for a God. ^The invisible things of God 
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being 
understood by the things that are made, even his 
eternal power and Godhead.' An atheist, then, if 
there be one, is a monster — he is blind to ^hat can 
be ^ clearly seen.' 2. TJiere is the aseending and the 
descending proof, or, the argument a priori (by Dr 
Clarke,) and a posteriori, by which we mean that a 
supreme existence can be proved either by reasoning 
from the effect upwards towards the cause, or from the 
cause downward to the effect — from the visible up to 
the invisible, or from the invisible down to what is seen. 
We prefer, for edification, the argument a posteriori, 
because it conducts the mind, by easy and natural 
stages, from the finite or the creature, to tlie infinite 
or the Creator; thus, 3. As something exists now, 
something must have existed from eternity. Even 
infidels admit that, if there ever had been a time 
when nothing existed, nothing could have been in 
existence now. To get quit of the idea of a 
designing power, Epicureus resorts to that manifest 
absurdity about the universe having been formed out 
of a ^fortuitous concourse of atoms,' and that these 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

atoms must have existed from all eternity. ^ I will no 
more believe,' says Swift (borrowing tlie idea from 
Cicero,) ^ that the universe was formed by a fortuitous 
concourse of atoms, than that the accidental jumbling 
of the letters of the alphabet could fall by chance into 
an ingenious and learned treatise of philosophy.' 
Apply the argument of the atheist to man — he exists 
now, he must have always existed — therefore there 
never was a first man. But, asks Dr Dick, ' how 
could a succession be eternal although all its parts 
had a beginning? How could all its parts have a 
beginning, and yet the whole be without a beginning?' 
Atheism tells us that there can be ^ a chain which has 
only one end.' Again, 4. Design implies a designer. 
There are proofs of design everywhere in creation, 
therefore there must be an intelligent Creator. Enter 
one of oiu' large manufactories or engineering yards, 
where stands, in the beauty and symmetry of a perfect 
finish, one of the grandest pieces of machinery — 
enter the ^ Great Exhibition of the Works of the 
Industry of all Nations' — point to the gorgeous mani- 
festations of a world's art within its crystal walls, and 
then announce that, though there we have proofs of 
intelligence and genius of the highest order, yet there 
never was a designer — that the whole came together 
by mere chance, and that the structures and their 
contents are lucky concourses — you would be set down 
by the veriest tyro as a mocker or a madman. And 
yet, though from the mechanism of the heavens to 



18 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the meanest insect, from the angel to the worm, from 
the ocean to the rimpHng stream, from the cedar of 
Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall, there be proofs 
without number of the highest wisdom and power, 
there are men who say in their hearts ^ there is no 
God.' 5. The general consent of mankind to the 
existence of God is also a fair argument here. The 
idea of a presiding Deity has been found in the 
human mind, in every age of the world, and among 
the rudest and most barbarous of the race. 6. Tlie 
proofs of a Providence superintending and controlling 
all creatures, and all their actions, are also brUliant 
and impressive advocates for the existence of one 
supreme Deity, in whom all Uive and move and 
have their being.' To call these providences ^the 
laws of nature,' only puts the question one step 
farther back ; laws imply a lawgiver, and who is he ? 
Who but the God of the Bible ? And, in one word, 
7. The Bible testimony is the sufficient and the con- 
vincing one to the disciples of Jesus. The inspiration 
of the scriptures is, of course, in this respect, taken for 
granted. But, even admitting this, there is, to the 
serious inquirer, no stronger proof of the existence 
of the 'one only, the living and the true God,' 
than what is afforded in the express and sublime 
revelations of that Lord himself We stand at 
the foot of Sinai, and take our creed from the 
mouth of the Lord God« of Israel, who com- 
mands, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before 



INTEODUCTIOl^. 19 

me;' ^Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one 
Lord; 

III. There are three Persons in the God- 
head. These three are distinct — each is a divine 
person — and yet there is only ^one true and living 
God.' This is one of the mysteries of revelation. 
The knowledge of it does not appear to be necessary 
to the religion of innocence. Adam was perfect when 
formed, but it is questionable if he had any idea of 
the triune Jehovah. Men have ridiculed it. How 
ungrateful ! How impious ! God was under no 
necessity to reveal it; and when he did so, it was 
because of man's fall, and especially because of the 
purpose to restore him. This could not be done 
except by a divine mediation ; hence the necessity of 
reveahng the Father who sends the Son, the Son who 
gives himself, and the Holy Ghost who applies the 
blessings of their united salvation. 

lY. There is but one Keligion. This is a 
consequence from the doctrine or principle of one 
God. All intelligent creatures owe to him what is 
called a religion — which means, pure love and perfect 
obedience. God himself is love, and religion itself 
is love; which love includes perfect assimilation to 
God's nature, and entire submission to God's will. 
This is invariably the religion of innocence. The 
holy angels, and all un corrupted intelKgences, possess 



20 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and practise it. Consequently their intercourse with 
God is direct. Of mediation they know nothing, 
because of sin they are guiltless. Theirs is the 
religion of nature. 

V. Sinful man has no religion. He is godless, 
or * without God.' He was created holy. He broke 
God's law, became a sinner, and was condemned to 
die. His likeness to God, his satisfaction in God, 
and his love for God, all took their flight from his 
soul, when he ate of the forbidden tree. He is by 
nature ^dead in trespasses and in sins,' — spiritually 
dead, for holiness has died out of him; judicially 
dead, for God has condemned him ; and eternally 
dead, for ^the wages of sin is death,' not only now, 
but for ever and ever. Left, then, to himself, man 
not only has no religion, but religious he never can 
become. Has God, then, vdthdrawn his claims upon 
his love and obedience ? By no means. Hjs rights 
are unaffected by any moral or judicial change in 
man's condition. Holiness the creature is still bound 
to cultivate, and obedience he is still bound to give ; 
but, alas! to neither is he now equal. He cannot 
be holy, because he is ' shapen in iniquity, and in sin 
did his mother conceive him ;' and he cannot obey, 
because he hates the very thought of God, and it is 
written, ^ Love is the fulfilling of the law.' Eternal 
separation from God, and everlasting wrath, must be 
his doom. Is there no hope for him ? There is. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

VI. There is a JVIediator between Gob 
AND MAN. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 
This is the revelation of the Bible. This is the 
religion, not of nature^ but of Christianity ; for ' God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life.' This same Jesus 
' God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through 
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the 
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance 
of God.' The Son of God from all eternity, this 
Mediator became man in the ftilness of the time ; for 
' verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but 
he took on him the seed of Abraham ;' which means 
that he assumed the human into union with his 
divine nature : ^The Word was made flesh,' and ^the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God — all 
things were made by him.' 

VII. The Mediator is God. It is evident that 
redeeming power implies creating power. Redemp- 
tion is accomplished by mediation, but mediation 
supposes that sin has been atoned for, that the Law- 
giver is satisfied, and that pardon, peace, purity, and 
paradise are placed in the option of the sinner. Now, 
God must not only have approved of this work, bu 
God alone must have accomplished it. True, sin 
was imputed to the humanity of the substitute, and 
from that humanity alone was exacted the penalty of 



22 THE HIDING PLACE. 

sin — death; but what was it that imparted to the 
humanity strength sufficient to bear the mighty load 
of human guilt? and what was it that gave to the 
sufferings of Jesus their infinitely meritorious righ- 
teousness ? It was the divinity of the surety. Under 
the law it was the altar that ' sanctified the gift ;' till 
the gift came into contact with the altar it was not a 
sacrifice. Under the gospel there is also an altar 
which sanctifies the gift, and that altar is the divine 
nature of the Redeemer ; which, in mysterious union 
with his humanity, imparts to his offering all its 
propitiatory value. The deity and the atonement of 
Christ are inseparable. If he be not God, then there 
is no atonement, and if there be no atonement, then 
for the sinner there is no hope whatever. But the 
Bible affirms that he is divine, and hence he becomes 
to the christian ' all his salvation and all his desire.' 

VIII. There is only one Mediator. ^For 
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Jesus Christ.' There can be no other. 
None other has satisfied the law for man, and none 
other can plead on his behalf: ^lim only the Father 
heareth always.' Jesus Christ the righteous, and 
none but he, is our ^Advocate with the Father.' 
This excludes all human merit. This proves that 
salvation is by. grace, and not by works. Repen- 
tance, however sincere ; reformation, however radical ; 
charity, however munificent; and prayers, however 



mTRODUCTIOX. 23 

earnest, are in this relation ^ refuges of lies.' These 
things are only duties — they are not, and cannot be 
atonement for sins that are past. Besides, in all 
these things, even at their ^best estate,' there is 
imperfection ; and with imperfection of any kind, or 
in any degree, God, as the just and offended Law- 
giver, can have nothing to do. The principle then 
is, — none but Clirist, and nothing hut his one sacrifice 
of himself J form the basis on which a guilty sinner can 
ask, or a holy God grant pardon and acceptance. 

IX. Faith in- this gospel plaj^t of mercy is 

THE ONLY AND THE GRACIOUS CONDITION^ OF 

SALVATION. 'Without faith it is impossible to 
please God.' 'He that believeth shall be saved.' 
Faith is just a simple taking of God at his word, or 
the acceptance of pardon from him for Christ's sake. 
This, of com'se, includes the assent of the under- 
standing to his remedial scheme, the embrace by the 
heart of his beloved Son as surety, and the consecra- 
tion of all w^e have and are from that moment to 
God's service. Is there merit in this faith ? None 
whatever. It is a condition of grace merely, not of 
merit. God freely puts belief and pardon together 
in the economy of grace, and is just as sovereign in 
this as in the choice and mission of his Son to die 
in our room. The principle is, 'faith is the gift of 
God.' He gives his Son, and with him he freely 
gives all other good things. 



24 THE HIDING PLACE. 

X. There is one Spirit. The Holy Spirit 
took part with the Father and the Son in the 
councils of peace, when human redemption was 
decreed. He is the author of the Bible — for ^ holy 
men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost.' He is the father of Christ's human nature — 
for said the angel to his mother, ^ The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee : wherefore also that holy 
thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called 
the Son of God.' He brings the sinner to Christ, 
renews the heart, enlightens the mind, and carries 
forward the work of sanctifi cation, till at death that 
work is consummated, and the soul is received up 
into glory. The principle is, ^ not by might, nor by 
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' 

XI. Jesus Christ is therefore the ^Foun- 
tain OF Life.' He is the head of the church. 
From him all spiritual blessings flow. Through him 
the sinner gets back to God ; through him the Holy 
Ghost reaches conscience, and converts the sinner. 
The prediction of Zechariah is fulfilled : ' In that day 
there shall be a fountain opened to the house of 
David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin 
and for uncleanness.' Sin, on the other hand, is the 
fountain of death, out of which are poured upon the 
world the elements of moral disorder and unutterable 
w^oes. It can discharge no other materials. Sin can- 



INTKODUCTION. 25 

not cure sin : death cannot produce life : justifica- 
tion cannot flow from condemnation. From amid this 
appaUing desolation rises up a fountain of life — Jesus 
Christ — to whom all may come and draw thence 
copious draughts of living water, without money and 
without price. 

The one grand inference which we draw from this 
magnificent finding is, that there is, after all, to 
every guilty sinner ^a hiding place from the wind, 
and a covert from the tempest' of the divine indig- 
nation; and this hiding place is 'in Christ Jesus' 
' There is therefore,' says the apostle, ^ now no con- 
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.' This 
phrase, 'in Christ Jesus/ is very emphatic and 
comprehensive. You have in it all that Christ did 
for us, and all that we must do with him. Contem- 
plating him thus, as the ' all in all' of our salvation, 
we addi'ess him in the beautiful language of the 
Psalmist, ^Thou art my hiding place.' And 
such indeed he is to every sinner that flees to him 
by faith. From the very beginning does the Bible 
represent him to us in this winning aspect. In the 
Old Testament, especially, are such titles given to 
him as cannot fail, if they are spiritually discerned, 
to fill the mind with adoration and confidence in him 
as the aZ^of a sinner's hope, and the in all of the graces 
of a christian's life. From these titles we make the 
following selection, for the purpose of opening up the 



26 THE HIDING PLACE. 

whole subject of the way of salvation, and of im- 
parting to it unity of purpose and variety of illustra- 
tion. We shall view him as ^ Jehovah- Jesus/ the 
Lord our God ; — as ' Jehovah-Jireh/ the pro^dder 
of all the good things of the covenant of grace, and 
of all the loving-kindnesses that overflow the cup of 
blessing; — as ^ Jehovah-Tsidkenu,' 'the Lord our 
righteousness/ the righteousness indeed of every guilty 
soul, by which it is pardoned, and is at last accepted : 
— as ' Jehovah-Eophi/ 'the Lord my healer/ 
the sanctification of every sin-sick soul, ' the balm of 
Gilead, and the physician there;' — as 'Jehovah- 
Shalom/ 'the Lord our peace/ the reconciliation, 
the pacifier of God towards man, and of man towards 
God ; — as ' Jehovah-Nissi,' ' the Lord my banner,' 
who fights and wins for us all our battles, and who re- 
ceives the service and the homage of all our hearts and 
lives; — and as ' Jehoyah-Shammah/ 'the Lord is 
there,' everywhere present to bless and to do us good. 
Such, then, are the great principles of the christian 
religion, upon which the illustrations and discussions 
of the following pages are to be raised ; and such are 
the sublime titles given to the Mediator of the hew 
covenant — 'the hiding place' of souls — from which 
the richness and fulness of his grace are to be 
proclaimed. Eepetition of truth there must be, 
inasmuch as ' there is no other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved.' 
Notwithstanding there is propriety in concentrating 



INTKODUCTION. 27 

the mind upon such a theme, and in causing it, 
under a variety of figures and illustrations, to become 
intimately acquainted with its august, divine, eternal 
element. The views of our Saviour to be obtained 
through this treatise shall thus resemble those of the 
kaleidescope. By the revolutions of this optical in- 
strument, while there is continual change in the 
arrangement of the pebbles, the pebbles themselves 
are invariably the same. In like manner, by the 
successive illustrations of the Mediator's work, through 
the medium of these new covenant titles, there is 
afforded endless configurations of truth, though the 
substance of that truth remains unchanged. To 
become quite familiar with the gospel plan is a pre- 
cious attainment which, however, is not to be acquired 
by a mere occasional or hasty contemplation. It is 
to be feared that but too many rest satisfied with 
such a superficial study of its inestimable doctrines ; 
and to counteract the baneful effects of this evil, is 
one of the objects sought in the present mode of 
handling the subject. 



CHAPTER I, 



JEHOVAH. 

* I am Jehovah, that is my name.' 

Isaiah xlviii. 8. 

In 'looking unto Jesus' as the sinner's 'hiding place,' 
we are at once invited to the study of that mysterious 
Being who is revealed in scripture as the supreme and 
independent Deity. It is of himself that Jehovah 
speaks when he says, ' My people have committed two 
evils ; they have forsaken me, the fountain of hving 
waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken 
cisterns, that can hold no water.' By the heautifal 
figure of this text we are to understand all the 
blessings of Christ's salvation; and it is clear that 
every one of these must be traced to the speaker as 
their procuring cause, or the source from which they 
flow. And who is he who thus charges his people 
with sin ? He is called the Lord, or Jehovah. Now, 
as Jesus Christ is the 'author and finisher of our 
faith,' and as Jehovah here claims to be the fountain 
of life, we must infer that the Jesus of the New, is the 
Jehovah of the Old Testament-. 



30 THE HIDING PLACE. 

This is an august theme ; and when we sit down to 
study it, there cannot be a more appropriate prayer 
than that of the psalmist, ' Open thou mine eyes, that 
I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' The 
^ wondrous thing ' to be sought for at present is, not 
the silent and vital stream, but the remote and hidden 
source of spiritual life in the soul ; it is not the light 
itself, but the Father of lights; it is not man under 
grace, nor yet grace in man, but the God of all grace 
himself. And who is sufficient for this? We are 
but the creatures of a day, and this is He who 
^ inhabiteth eternity.' We are the children of dark- 
ness, and know nothing, and this is he who ' dwelleth 
in light that is inaccessible.' We cannot ^see God 
and live ;' and yet here we are invited to the contem- 
plation of that awful Being whom ' the heaven of 
heavens cannot contain,' and who is of ^ purer eyes 
than to behold iniquity.' Notwithstanding, this 
' wondrous thing ' we must search for ; and if we do 
so under the guidance of scripture, and with humble 
and docile minds, we are sure to be rewarded with 
such a sight of Him whose name is Jehovah, as shall 
thrill us with joy unspeakable, and inspire us with 
hope that ' maketh not ashamed.' Let us then con- 
sidei^ the follomng points : — 

I. The Name of God is Jehovah. It is the 
name given to him in the Bible, and it is peculiar to 
the Bible. Its meaning is, underived^ necessary, and 



JEHOVAH. 31 

eternal existence. The other names applied to God 
in the scripture are official, or expressive of some of 
his perfections ; but Jehovah is his incommunicable 
name, and is descriptive of that which is, and must be, 
his especial Deity. Elsewhere he calls himself ^ I am 
that I am,' which means, 'I exist because I exist.' 
He cannot but exist ; and for that existence he is 
dependent upon none, being in this, as in eveiything 
else, absolutely sovereign. 

The critical student of the original Hebrew dis- 
covers that another name is given by Moses to the 
Deity, kindred to, but not identical with, Jehovah — 
a name, indeed, which is anterior to that of Jehovah, 
and which is not necessarily of an economical cha- 
racter. This is the name Elohim, which is just the 
abstract term for Deity ^ irrespective of anything that 
may be revealed concerning his nature or works. It 
is only when we come to the divine intercourse with 
man that we are permitted to think of him as Jehovah. 
Before any creature whatever existed, he is Elohim ; 
even after man is formed and has fallen, he is Elohim. 
But when he condescends to break silence upon his 
purpose of mercy through an atonement, then he 
appears as the ' Jehovah.' Let this be well considered. 
The revealed name of God is Jehovah ; that is, this is 
the name which, from the very first of his gracious 
manifestations to man, he took to himself. Does not 
this place in a most delightful and encouraging juxta- 
position the Deity and the Redeemer'^ It is also 



32 THE HIDING PLACE. 

noticeable that Moses uses these two names quite 
discrimiiiately — in no instance arbitrarily. He uses 
Elohim when he refers to Deity^ and he uses Jehovah 
when he represents the Deity in gracious fellowship 
with man. 

The name Jehovah directs attention to certain 
attributes which exclusively belong to Deity. He is 
a being who never began to exist. He exists of 
necessity. He must exist for ever. He is that God 
who ' was, and is, and is to come.' He ' was ' in all 
the past ; he ^ is ' in all the present ; and he ' is to come/ 
or exists, in all the future. His existence is not 
affected by what is called time, for he exists in ' an 
everlasting now J We cannot associate succession with 
his being. There is a diiference between the eternal 
existence of angels and that of God. Theirs resiards 
only the future, whereas his embraces both the future 
and the past. Hence the words of the man of God : 
' Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from 
everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' 

II. The Name Jehovah is eevealed for a 
SPECIAL OBJECT. It was intended to convey to man 
some impression of the Elohim's purposes of mercy 
to him. Hence, in speaking to Moses, God says : ^ I 
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob 
by the name of God Almighty; but by my name 
Jehovah was I not known to them.' In this language 



JEHOVAH. 33 

there appears to be reference to the gradual mode of 
imfoldincr himself as the God of salvation — faint and 
comparatively indistinct at first to the patriarchs, a 
little more clear and specific to the Jewish church, 
and next to a perfect or full-orbed disclosure in the 
gospel times. To the patriarchs there is the one 
grand idea of ^God Almighty/ enshrined behind 
some awful and unapproachable cloud. Before the 
eye of the Jews this cloud partially separates, and a 
special condescendence reveals one of the persons of 
Elohim, who takes the name of Jeliovah, Under that 
name he is to be worshipped, by that name he is to 
be appropriated, and in that name he and they are to 
covenant together : ' You only,' he says to Israel, ^have 
I known (or appropriated) of all the families of the 
earth.' 

III. The Name Jehovah is given to the 
Messiah. In some scriptures it is applied to the 
first and third persons of the Godhead. It is much 
oftener very pointedly and emphatically given to the 
Messiah, or to him whom we know and love as the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; in other words, tha Jesus of the 
New, is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. This is 
one of the solid and indestructible foundations on 
which we build our faith in the supreme divinity of 
our Saviour. He is God as well as man, because he 
is called in scripture ^ Jeliovali, a name which cannot 
be applied to any mere creature. We know him to 



34 . THE HIDING PLACE. 

be the ' Mediator of the new covenant ;' and what 
therefore can be conceived more probable than that 
he should act and be revealed in this character, even 
from the ' councils of peace' downward ? Hence he 
appears in the very beginning as Creator, for by him 
we know ^all things were made;' then he is seen as 
^ the Word/ in the intimations of mercy which he gave 
to our first parents immediately after they fell ; then 
he holds from generation to generation those interest- 
ing interviews with patriarchal families, which serve 
as forerunners to the Mosaic organisation ; and then, 
from prophet to prophet, he communicates more 
and more clearly his advent and atonement as the 
promised ' seed of the woman.' The scriptural proofs 
here are very valuable. There is a very interesting 
emendation of the common translation of the words of 
Eve at the birth of Cain. She said, ^I liave gotten a 
man from the Lord,' which should be rendered, ^I 
have gotten a man-Jehovah^ It is probable that our 
first parents associated the promised seed with Deity, 
and on the sight of this first and beautiful infant, 
Eve gives expression to her hopes that now this divine 
Saviour was born. Again, in those passages in which 
he is spoken of as ^ the angel of the Lord,' the literal 
meaning is ^ the angel-Jehovah,' or ' Jehovah-angel ;' 
or, that he who was the person sent was also the person 
sending — that the sender was Jehovah, and Jehovah 
was the messenger. It was ' the angels Jehovah^ that 
appeared to Moses in the burning bush of Horeb, and 



JEHOVAH. 3L 

said to him, ' I am the God of thy father, the God of 
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 
In Isaiah he is represented as thus addressing his 
people: ^Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy 
One of Israel, lam the Lord thy God,^ In examining 
the context of this passage, we find that this same 
person claims to be ^the first and the last,' and to 
have laid ^the foundation of the earth,' while yet 
he represents himself as being ^the messenger of 
the Lord Jehovah and his Spirit,' — words which the 
best critics explain as conveying the information, that 
the person sending and the person sent is alike Jehovah, 
In the forty-third chapter of this same book he pro- 
claims himself thus : ' I, even I, am Jehovah, and 
beside me there is no Saviour.' By Isaiah he is called 
' Jehovah our righteousness,' and in Zechariah he says, 
' They shall look upon me, Jehovah, whom they have 
pierced.' 

It is remarkable that there are only tiuo passages in 
scripture where the first person of the Godhead is said 
to speak; in those, namely, where the baptism and 
the transfiguration of Christ are nan-ated. It has 
been inferred from this, that in all other passages 
where God is represented as speaking, we must under- 
stand them of the Son. Jesus Christ, then, must be 
God, for he is Jehovah; and God says, ^I am Jehovah, 
that is my name, and my glory I will not give to 
another.' Yes, delightful truth! Jesus is the Lord 
our God, the Elohim who alone should be worshipped. 



^36 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and the Jehovah who has been revealed in order to 
be worshipped; in short, the ' man- Jehovah/ or the 
Lord incarnate, by whom we have access to, and 
through whom we have power with, the Father. 
Thus the idea of Deity becomes inseparable from the 
idea of Mediator between God and man. In that 
mediation there must be God, not approving or accept- 
ing merely, but God himself actually making and 
offering the atonement. This necessarily produces 
the thought of there being friendship or mercy in the 
Elohim or Deity for sinful man, which is just the 
evangelical meaning of these words, ^ I am the Lord 
thy God.' He is the revelation of God as the God of 
love, and is in this respect the only ^ image of the 
invisible God ' to us. It is not the power of that God 
that he reflects, but his smile ; it is not the menace 
that he proclaims, but the promise ; it is not the law 
that he commands, but the gospel. 

Upon this one sublime principle rises the magni- 
ficent structure of Christianity. To see and admit 
this truth is indispensable to salvation. Sin has 
withdrawn us from our Creator, hence its evil and our 
misery. But it is the object of the remedial scheme 
to deliver us from both. In order to do so, the power 
and the disposition to worship and love God must be 
restored ; and this can never be accomplished except 
by our believing that the Lord Jesus Christ is at one 
and the same time ' the Lord our God.' It was com- 
manded in heaven, Met all the angels worship him;' 



JEHOVAH. 37 

and we know that on earth he received homage of 
men. Now in so doing, he taught men, and won 
them to himself; he taught them to worship God, and 
won them over to himself as Jehovah, or God revealed; 
this being the very object for which man was at first 
created, and is redeemed. It is scarcely possible 
not to be overcome by the contemplation of such a 
sublime piece of heavenly wisdom as this. To be 
unimpressed by it is a proof of ignorance and aliena- 
tion from God, which is indeed the natural condition of 
man. If, then, we be at all desirous to rise from it, 
and be again upon the happiest and holiest terms of 
friendship with our Maker, we must anticipate all by 
believing that Jesus is Jehovah, that he who was 
bom of Mary was also the only-begotten of the Father ; 
yea, ^ the brightness of the Father's glory, and the very 
image of his person ;' in other words, ' Lord over all, 
and blessed for ever.' 

' Without controversy, great is the mystery of god- 
liness ; God was manifest in the flesh.' Without con- 
troversy, let us add, great also and unspeakably 
important is this doctrine of the divinity and humanity 
of our Lord, alike to our understanding of and our 
comfort in the Bible. We lay it down as the founda- 
tion principle of the whole system of redemption ; 
we point to it as the ^ hiding place' to the souls of 
men, and we glory in it as the very charm and 
essence of the divine pity for lost souls. It has been 
well said, that ^ there is no such book of contradictions 



38 THE HIDING PLACE. 

as the Bible, if there be no person who was both 
human and divine. Nothing but such a combination 
will make sense of the Bible, or rescue it from main- 
taining a vast mass of inconsistencies. Some may 
think that it would simplify the christian theology to 
remove from it the mystery that two natures coalesced 
in the one person of Christ ; but as the divinity of our 
Lord is the foundation of our hope, so is it the key 
to the Bible. We acknowledge, reverently, a great 
mystery, but not the thousandth part as great as the 
whole Bible becomes on the supposition that Christ 
was only man.'* 

* Henry Melville. 



CHAPTER II. 



JEHOVAH-JESUS: THE LORD OUR GOD. 

' I am the Lord ihj God.' 

ExoD. XX. 2. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the misery of a guilty 
conscience. When allowed to rise upon the sinner 
in all its terrific power, the darkness that sets in upon 
him is ^ darkness that may be felt,' and the hopeless- 
ness that grasps his heart is despair in agony. There 
is a God, and he believes it ; there is a law of that 
God, and he has broken it ; there is a penalty, even 
death itself, attached to the breach of that law, and 
he has incurred it. What shall he then do? He 
cannot appease the wrath of the Lawgiver ; the idea 
of atonement he cannot form, for that is an idea 
which must be posterior to the revelation of the pur- 
pose of mercy. His first thought is to arise and hide 
himself from the presence of God ; and he hides him- 
self — so he thinks for the moment — till conscience calls 
aloud to him to look around, and then he sees that he 
is seen : ' Whither,' ho exclaims, ' shall I go from thy 
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 



40 THE HIDING PLACE. 

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the 
night shall be light about me; yea, the darkness 
hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the 
day; the darkness and the light are both alike to 
thee.' 

What can pacify such an accusing conscience as 
this ? It is evident that nothing whatever can do so 
but a reply from that sin-avenging Deity, assuring 
the sinner of his continued friendship, and of his 
purpose to pardon him in a way most harmonious with 
all his perfections. Has the sinner, then, received 
such a reply? He undoubtedly has. Behold him 
hiding ! He fears the divine approach ; the tread of 
JehovaKs foot in the garden makes him tremble 
exceedingly. He hears the voice of God, and pre- 
pares for the execution of the sentence, ^ The soul 
that sinneth it shall die.' When, hark ! what sound 
is this which falls upon his ear? its accent is kindly, 
its note is love ; and lo, what stream of light is this 
which enters his retreat? It is the ray of God's 
smile, the dawn of God's mercy. Now is the birth- 
time of Hope ; she speaks but in a whisper, stiU the 
very movement of her lips tells that God is coming, 
more in pity than in anger — that He, and pardon, and 
reconciliation are all on the ground together, and 
that soon the guilty and terror-stricken shall be re- 
assured and at peace. The silence is at length broken, 
and these glorious words are irrevocably placed in 
the everlasting covenant, ^ I am the Lord thy God.' 



JEHOVAH JESUS* 41 

I am indeed Jehovahj whose kindness has been abused 
and whose law has been violated ; but, notwithstand- 
ing, ^ I am the Lord thy God ;' I am still thy friend ; 
yea, I am thy Saviour from sin and all its woes ; 1, 
even I alone, am thy ^hiding place.' Such is the 
aspect which the doctrine of the Incarnation at first 
presents to the mind. Here is Jehovah himself. 
True, he appears in the likeness of sinful flesh — he 
obeys, suffers, and dies ; notwithstanding, this Jesus is 
Jehovah — this is God in our nature — this is Jehovah- 
Jesus in our stead. The knowledge and belief of this 
give assurance to the sinner, that after all that has 
occurred, in God himself he has still a friend. Now, 
as the divinity of Christ is the very essence of chris- 
tian doctrine, so the idea on the guilty mind that the 
Deity is friendly to its pardon, is the very life of its 
repentance, and the very soul of its movement towards 
holiness and heaven. In other words, as it is the 
harsh and despairing thought of God that maintains 
hatred to and fear of him, so it is the gospel thought 
of his compassion, and the gospel belief that ' God is 
love,' that restores confidence and ensures peace. We 
see, then, 

I. In Jehovah becoming Jesus, the assur- 
ance IS GIVEN THAT GOD HIMSELF IS THE SINNER'S 

friend. How can it be otherwise ? Behold he comes 
to us in our low and lost estate, and yet there is no frown 
upon that look — no curse from that lip —no sword in 



42 THE HIDING PLACE. 

that hand — no fire in that train. He passes by, but 
the ^ time is a time of love/ and he drops into the 
soul the seed of the tree of hfe, as he says, ^ I am the 
Lord thy God.' Pardon, then, is not only probable ; 
it is certain. The Lawgiver- himself has come to 
obey his own law, and in the end he suffers its 
penalty, though ^he knew no sin.' Such is the 
strongest of all proofs that God is ' not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should return unto him 
and live.' If this do not beget hope in the sinner, he 
must remain for ever the child of despair. God can 
do no more than this — can add no more to evidence 
like this. Our Redeemer is now in heaven, at once 
the pledge of the divine acceptance of his sacrifice, 
and of their perfect safety who offer it to God for 
their own sins. Man cannot now be forgotten in 
heaven. The Lamb that was slain is his memorial 
there. Our great High Priest has the most exalted 
of all natures, and is the best of all beings, and there- 
fore it seems but suitable that the vilest of -all men 
can be saved by this the greatest of beings, and that 
the chief of sinners may hope, when the Lord of angels 
has died for him. 

What proof can be added to this ? Do you say, 
let us see Jesus, and let us hear him saying, ' I am 
the Lord thy God,' then we will believe ? We reply — 
He has been seen and heard already by competent 
witnesses when he sojourned among men, and you 
liave their testimony written on the inspired page. 



JEHOVAH-JESUS. 43 

Do you rejoin — We would have tlie full assurance 
of God's friendship within ourselves ? Why have you 
it not ? This is your sin as well as your loss. How 
ungrateful and how profane to doubt the divine 
interest in you — an interest written in letters of love 
upon every page of the Bible ! If that evidence does 
not convince you, neither would you believe though 
upon the blue firmament it were written in letters of 
electric light, or upon the black arch of midnight, in 
letters of living fire. No, you would not believe 
though Moses and all the prophets, Stephen and all 
the martyrs, Paul and all the apostles, were to re- 
appear and re-assert that God is now the friend of 
man for Christ's sake, and that ' if any man sin, he 
has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous.' The important, indeed the awful fact of 
the case is, that the whole story of the divine friend- 
ship for man is wrapped up in the small but precious 
volume of the gospel ; there we have it, and there 
alone. This method of assuring the sinner may be 
offensive to his natural pride, but God will never 
consent to gratify any craving after glorious signs in 
the heavens or marvellous signs on the earth. We 
must listen to it in the * still small voice' of the 
simple truth as it is in Jesus ; we must take it on his 
bare word, and be as persuaded of his sincere and 
precious love for us, as if no sin had ever alienated us 
from him, as if there was no law to be pacified nor 
any penalty to be endured. 



44 • THE HIDING PLACE. 

II. In the friendship of God sinful men have 

IN THEIR OFFER THE MOST PRECIOUS OF ALL BLESS- 
INGS. This is not the opinion of the unrenewed 
mind. Sin has perverted the judgment and reversed 
in it every truthful proposition. God is regarded as an 
enemy ; hoUness is offensive, and the divine favour is 
despised. Hence men act a corresponding part; they 
seek to forget God, they indulge in sin, and searcli 
for happiness everywhere but in the loving-kindness 
of their Maker. It is a most melancholy thought 
that there is not one instance of success on record ; 
every man has failed. Pretended success there has 
been, but it is a dream ; there is a worm that never 
dies, and there is a fire that is never quenched within 
them, while they depend for happiness upon the con- 
tributions of this vain world. Admitting that all is 
gained that is sought after, the ^ one thing needfiil' to 
make the soul happy is awanting — conscience is not 
appeased — sin is not pardoned — the sense of God's loye 
is not felt. These are fearful wants, covering as with 
a deadly shade every possession, causing perpetual 
restlessness in every faculty, and agitating without 
abatement the dread question, ' What shall I do to be 
saved 1 ' It was natural to be happy when the soul 
was holy, but now that the soul is in sin, this is 
unnatural; this opposes first principles and contravenes 
the original law of our constitution. A human soul 
can no more be happy without the favour of God, 
than a human body can be comfortable with raging 



JEHOVAH-JESUS. 45 

disease and racking pain. Is he not a fool who cal- 
culates on safety while he carries fire in his bosom — 
or on health while he inhales infection — or on riches 
while he folds his hands in sloth? And what is he 
who expects peace within, while he stirs up wars 
against God, casts and keeps him out of his heart, 
and woos and weds sin as his dearest associate ? He 
must be the victim of delusion ; for certain it is, that, 
separated from God, the sinner is a ' wretched man.' 
He may not be conscious of it, for sin is an opiate, 
and deadens moral sensibility; sin is a poison, and 
kills spiritual life ; sin is a lie, and deceives all who 
trust in it. But this opiate by and by loses its power, 
and sensibility returns ; this poison loses its virus, and 
consciousness is restored; this lie has its hour, and 
the delusion vanishes. The re-appearahce of truth 
on the dark canopy of a sinner's death-bed is indeed 
a frightful vision. The farce of life is now played 
out ; the spiritual dehrium comes on apace, and in 
the agonies of an unp urged conscience he discovers 
the hollowness of the world, and admits the great and 
indestructible truth of the exclusive adaptation of the 
soul's happiness to a sense of the divine friendship. 
The worldling himself is often a reluctant witness 
here, when he is heard reproving mammon and 
pleasure for befooling him. It is truly a pitiful 
sight, when even he spits upon his minion slaves, and 
kicks away from him the ladders on which he would 
have clambered to independence, and howls over the 



46 THE HIDING PLACE. 

beggarly return of a lifetime's labour, as beasts of prey- 
do when they scour the forest and find no food. 

There are many unsolved enigmas in human life, 
and this is one of them, — the difficulty of getting men 
to believe that God is their friend, and that they 
cannot be happy till they rest in that conviction. 
This is indeed a puzzle, which only becomes more in- 
tricate from the consideration that this very friendship 
of God, which they will not have, is the most precious 
of blessings. It cost God more than a thought or a 
word. Nothing he has ever done for or given to any 
creature has cost him so much as this. He gave away 
himself for it. He simply passed his word, and men 
were formed and reason was bestowed ; but to restore 
to them his favour after it had been forfeited, his own 
blood must flow on his own altar. In itself his friend- 
ship is our highest honour. All other relationships, 
honours, and possessions, are poor compared with it. 
These must be surrendered at death, but this is to 
last for ever ; and after sanctifying all other connec- 
tions, sweetening every earthly trial, dignifying every 
position in life, and enriching the poorest lots, this 
will speak peace for us in our extreme hours, and 
after death, will gladden and glorify us with the 
unclouded vision of God himself. 

III. To APPKOPEIATE THE FRIENDSHIP OF GOD 
IS THEREFORE THE FIRST DUTT, AS IT IS THE 

HIGHEST PRIVILEGE OF MAN. Jehovali-Jesus says, 



JEHOVAH-JESUS. 47 

* I am the Lord thy God.' It is our duty to reply 
with Thomas, ^My Lord and my God.' Surely 
what He offers, a sinner should take, though it 
were but a crumb of bread. And when he offers 
himself, there should be instant appropriation. No 
silly hesitation, no weak cavilling, no muttered 
excuses are admissible here, for salvation and con- 
solation await the belief of this sublime gospel. This 
idea of appropriation was more frequently eluci- 
dated in the days of our fathers than it is now. We 
hope that it will soon return to favour, for it is just 
the very marrow of genuine piety. ' All consolation 
in religion,' says Wilkinson, ' is connected with appro- 
priation.' Many will say, ' Lord, Lord,' but it is not 
the privilege of many to say with Thomas, ' my Lord 
and my God.' 'Wliat is it all worth to the poor guilty 
sinner if this God be not his God ? God must either 
be for him or against him ; if against him, then perish 
he must ; if for him, then why not embrace him at 
once in the soul's affectionate belief? Why refuse to 
say, ^ this God is my God V Read the sayings of the 
godly : — ^ I know that my Redeemer liveth,' said Job ; 
^ the Lord is my salvation, and my God,' said David ; 
' my beloved is mine,^ said the spouse ; ' He loved me, 
and gave himself for me^ said Paul. 

The warrant to appropriate is the same to all, even 
the authority of God himself : ^I am the Lord thy 
God^ Who, then, dares dispute it % He alone knows 
the state of his own heart, and as he is the God of 



48 THE HIDING PLACE. 

truth, as well as the God of love, our assent to his 
declarations ought to be immediate and hearty. It 
is true, we are not worthy of such an unparalleled 
blessing. Still, if he be willing to give himself to us, 
it becomes us to take him at his word. How inspirit- 
ing is this to a good man ! Not only is he innocent 
of presumption in the matter, but it is positively his 
duty to take Jehovah for his God — his friend, ^his 
buckler, and the horn of his salvation.' In this 
view, it becomes a sin not to appropriate the divine 
favour. Surely it must ever be right to obey God, 
to believe in Christ, to get the precious soul into 
amiable relationship with its own Father, and ever 
right to secure, tlirough this union, all the benefits 
that accompany or flow from the redemption purchased 
by the blood of his Son. 

It is our highest privilege to '• avouch' Jehovah- 
Jesus for our God. '• The beauty of scripture,' said 
Luther, ^ consists in pronouns.' O I blessed above 
compare is that man who can use the ^ my'' and the 
'me' of appropriation in reply to the '■ th/ and the 
' tliee^ of the covenant. Is it not, indeed, a precious 
state of mind to have unbelief banished from it ? It 
is; and such is the state of that man's mind who 
gives God a welcome when he comes to him in the 
kindness of his love. It is peculiar to unbehef to put 
God away, to refuse to open when he knocks, and to 
despise his gifts when offered. Is it not a valuable 
attainment, then, to feel personally interested in the 



JEHOVAH-JESUS. 49 

great salvation? It is; and such is the attainment 
of every appropriator. There is a ^ holy selfishness ' 
in his closing with Christ's ^giving love/ for belief 
is necessarily, in the first instance, selfish. It takes 
mercy to itself, and the feeling that it is rich in that 
mercy is a foretaste of heaven. There is no impro- 
priety in such a selfishness as this : would God every 
sinner had it ! — for then every sinner would himself 
be saved, and the selfishness of sin would flee away 
before the rising orb of universal love. 

IV. To REFUSE THE DIVINE FRIENDSHIP IS, 
THEREFORE, THE MOST HEINOUS SIN MEN COMMIT. 

It is the capital crime under the christian dispensa- 
tion : ' If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let 
him be Anathema Maran-atha.' Men have perpetrated 
great crimes ; crimes of rampant and dominant wicked- 
ness ; crimes which make us feel that where sinners 
dwell, devils dwell, and that where sin is, hell is not 
distant; crimes, at the very mention of which the 
delicate mind shrinks back, and the noble spirit of 
humanity rises up in wrath ; crimes which most men 
conceive it impossible for them to commit, and which 
must ever remain unmeasurable and indescribable till 
a plummet has been found to sound the bottomless, 
and some fiend has appeared capable of the revolting 
analysis. Can it be that there is a character of crime, 
a phasis of sin, outdistancing such extremities % There 
is : and all have it who refuse to take the Lord for 



50 THE HIDING PLACE. 

their God. All sins are, no doubt, against God, but 
there is a speciality in the antagonism of this one, 
which stamps it with peculiar enormity. Surely there 
is daring insult in the contemptuous rejection of his 
marvellous love, boundless mercy, and unmatched con- 
descendence. We cannot think charitably of treason 
within the sanctuary of the heart's affections and 
claims. We feel righteous indignation at ingrati- 
tude among men, and do not hesitate to hiss it out of 
our sight. If it be so in the nature of man, how 
think you is it in the nature of God ? If created love, 
if finite kindness, if vitiated moral sympathies, such 
as ours, thus feel towards the scornful rejection of our 
overtures of kiMness, what must be the grief, the 
hurt, the anger of the uncreated, the infinite, and the 
Holy One, who comes fi-om his ' secret place ' to sing 
of mercy rather than of judgment ; and who, in all 
his dealings with his rebellious creatures, condescends, 
on the basis of a finished atonement, to beseech them 
to be ^ reconciled !' Is it so that He has done all lie 
could do in the way of scheming, and working, and 
suffering, and dying; that he has added for men's 
benefit every beautiful and blissful mean of grace, 
and constituted every one of his providences as co- 
operators with himself in completing their happiness ; 
and is it so, that, notwithstanding all this, they trample 
his gifts under the foot of unbelief, or merely gambol 
with them from the hand of hypocrisy into that of 
formalism ? How, then, can it be otherwise, but that 



JEHOVAH- JESUS. 51 

fearfiilness shall surprise, and unfaithfulness bring 
upon them swift destruction? How often are Hhe 
terrors of the Lord ' seen upon such gospel despisers 
in this world ! They are left to judicial blindness ; 
they have eyes, but they see not — to judicial deafness ; 
they have ears, but they hear not— to judicial hard- 
ness ; they have hearts, but they feel not — to judicial 
searedness ; they have consciences, but they sting not. 
Is there not enough in this to make any man pause 
and ponder? Who is more to be pitied than the 
poor blind man, who walks amid the grandeurs of 
creation, but sees neither smile on the face of God 
nor beauty on the fields of nature ; — or than the deaf 
man, on whose ear the winning cadences of affection's 
voice never fall, and who knows not the joy that 
charming music gives; — or than the heartless man, 
who never gave and never received a blessing, to 
whom the sweets of kindness are as bitters, and from 
whom all the best emotions keep sternly apart ; — or 
than the petrified wretch, who can do all manner of 
cruelty, and never own to one pang of remorse, to 
one blush of shame? What is more pitiful? Your 
condition, O despiser of the kindness of God in 
Jesus Christ, — your condition is far more pitiful than 
any, or than all of these. You are in the midst of God's 
tender mercies, and yet you ^ see no beauty in them 
that they should be desired;' you are serenaded 
with the gospel halels of heaven's own orchestra, and 
yet you hear them not ; you are near, very near, to 



02 THE HIDING PLACE. 

Gethsemane and Calvary, and know their blood, their 
agony, their cries, their death, and yet you pale not, 
weep not, repent not. The wisdom of the Godhead, 
the processions of everlasting love, the very incarna- 
tion of divine compassion, and the whole apphances 
of high heaven for your soul's redemption, go for 
nothing with you, and are disregarded as the idle 
paraphernalias of a vain show. Be induced to think 
over such a sin as this ; the iniquity of it is very 
great. Be not deceived : you may be a kind father or 
mother, amiable in disposition, courteous in manners, 
honest in business, useful in society, and perhaps of 
influence within the church itself; but if you have 
never taken, by solemn and believing covenant, the 
Lord to be your God ; if his friendship be not prized 
and accepted, and if you are not, under its powerful 
attractions, drawn into intimate communion with him, 
and led into those paths of piety and philanthropy 
wherein the followers of God are found — then in this 
sin you are living ; and if in this sin you die, you are 
lost for ever. 

These pages being written to persuade the unthink- 
ing to believe in the loving-kindness of Jehovah, to 
cast away not only indifference, but all fears as to his 
merciful intentions, and to lie down and take quiet 
rest to their souls in the rich pastures of gospel grade 
and truth, we must now, in order to this, proceed to 
strike the rock from whence all living waters flow ; to 
call in and detail the evidence that the great ^I am' 



JEHOVAH- JESUS. 53 

has made most ample provision for the spiritual needs 
of the whole world, and to employ all the ordinary 
evangelical remonstrances with the thoughtless and 
the Christless, that they no longer betake themselves 
to ' refuges of lies,' but unto Jesus as their '• Hiding 
Place,' singing as they gaze and flee, 

' Rock of Ages ! cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee ; 
Let the water and the blood, 
From thy riven side which flowed, 
Be of sin the double cure ; 
Save me from its guilt and power. 

' Not the labour of my hands 
Can fulfil the Law's demands ; 
Could my zeal no respite know, 
Could my tears for ever flow, 
All for sin could not atone ; 
Thou must save, and Thou alone. 

' While I draw this fleeting breath, 
When mine eyelids close in death. 
When I soar to worlds unknown, 
See Thee on thy Judgment throne ; 
Rock of Ages ! cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee.' 



CHAPTER III, 



JEHOVAH-JIREH : THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 

PART I. 

' And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh ; that ia, 
The Lord will provide.'' 

Gen. xxii. 14. 

God is Love, Such is the Bible account of the 
divine nature. The words fall very sweetly upon the 
ear. The description is alike comforting and en- 
couraging. This abstract idea of God, however, is 
not enough for sinful men. It may be very true that 
^ God is love,' but the question occurs, Does he love 
us — and if so, where is the proof? It were only to 
tantalise us to let it be known that in our Creator 
there was abundance of friendship, while no embodi- 
ment of that friendship was offered to our reception. 
The nam.e given to him by Abraham when the ram 
caught in the thicket was most seasonably provided 
for a sacrifice, suggests such answers to the question 
as cannot fail to be satisfactory. This God of love is 
jEHOVAn-JiREH, HE ^ WILL PROVIDE ;' not Only does 



JEHOVAH- JIREH. 55 

he pity his children in their wants, but he supplies these 
wants, — the whole of them, — and that both for body 
and for soul, for time and eternity. This title, there- 
fore, is alike applicable to God in his dispensations of 
providence and of gi'ace. We shall proceed to illus- 
trate this : — 

I. It is applicable to Him in his dispensa- 
tions OF PROVIDENCE. We are emphatically de- 
pendent creatures — dependent because our existence 
is derived. This truth is not affected by our moral 
condition ; it applies to every creature, whether holy 
or guilty — to Adam before, as well as after the fall. 
It is as true of an angel as of a devil. This condition 
of dependence, therefore, is not originally a sinful 
one. We cannot tell whether, if sin had not entered, 
man would have had, in any degree, suspense or 
anxiety about the future, but certainly sin must have 
effected a very serious change both in the matter and 
in the feeling of his dependence. By losing every 
claim on God's kindness, its sphere is enlarged, and a 
new element entirely is added to the feehng ; it may 
be racking solicitude, or fear, or despair. How 
emphatic are the words of the curse pronounced upon 
Adam ! * The labour was to be painful, and the 
very enjoyment of it was to be embittered with sorrow. 
All those griefs, then, that go amongst us under the 
name of ^ worldly cares and anxieties,' must be traced 

* Gen. iii. 17. 



5G THE HIDING PLACE. 

to sin ; tliey are parts of the curse, or the fruits of 
transgression. Man would have had more than it was 
God's will to give him, and henceforth man shall be 
tormented with the fear that he shall have less even 
than what God actually provides. Putting these two 
things together — our dependence and our guilt — we 
may expect to find man everywhere an unhappy 
creature, and prone to apprehensions of evil — in short, 
of an unquiet spirit. 

This natural anxiety has its accessories ; these are 
the observation and experience of the vicissitudes of 
life, and our conscious unworthiness. Every day 
produces illustrations of the original curse. We see 
that man himself is not abiding, and that the whole 
fashion of this world is unstable. We live in a 
Sodom, where wickedness of all kinds abounds. Our 
holiday is a vanity fair where everything is vexation 
of spirit; we see our fellows daily carried to the 
grave, and the mourners going about the streets; 
we see the most flattering hopes disappointed, the 
most stately structures overturned, wealth becoming 
poor, and poverty becoming rich, and hard labour 
and honest industry making nothing of it, either for 
present demands or future needs. Furthermore, we 
discover that judicious plans, prudent poHcies, econo- 
mical habits, and unwearied patience, do not neces- 
sarily ensure success, and that often afler a protracted 
prosperity, disaster and ruin bring up the rear of 
life. Even virtuous activity says, there is no cer- 



JEHOVAH- JIREH. 57 

tainty, and merry-laughing vice alone seems to be 
careless, — but hers is the caper and cantrip of a 
maniac, and ends the same. Nor does it alleviate the 
anxieties hence begotten, to notice that whereas the 
good and upright among men often toil hard and gain 
little, the, idle and unprincipled do little and gain 
much. This extraordinary providence only adds 
weight to the fear, that if want does not await us, we 
are continually liable to it. And then, there is this 
conscience, that ^ makes cowards of us all,' for ever 
whispering that we have not a vestige of claim on the 
divine clemency, and that at any moment, and in any 
circumstances, God should only be acting righteously 
if he were to leave us to become the victims of every 
ill of life. In vain we seek relief from others — all 
are under the same condemnation, for all ^have 
sinned.' But let the origin and analysis of worldly 
solicitudes be what they may, one thing is sure, not 
one is free from them ; they grieve our very existence, 
and embitter such bounties of providence as we have. 
Here is the catalogue of them from the mouth of 
Christ himself: ^ What shall we eat, and what shall we 
drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed ? ' Such 
are the staple of human anxieties, the carnal powers 
that move the human machine, the moral tenantry 
that possess and work the human heart, the irresistible 
levers that stir the globe. 

The most painful element iit this worldly- minded- 
ness is the utter disregard which it implies of the 



I 



58 THE HIDING PLACE. 

veiy existence of God, and consequently the with- 
drawment of all confidence in him as the friend of 
sinners. Is this not bordering upon Atheism? There 
might indeed be no God for any good the doctrine of 
his existence does to such minds. They pant, toil, 
and sweat as if it all depended on themselves, as if 
God were a fiction, and providence a farce. In this 
mental imbecility we have one of the most humiliating 
proofs of the fall ; for what can be conceived more 
deplorable than a state of feeling in the creature, 
where the very idea of a God becomes useless, and 
where He is indeed entirely forgotten, or if re- 
membered, is rather repugnant than attractive ? Con- 
trast with this the ready opening of the same mind to 
the idea, that for mere moral or spiritual blessings 
some degree of dependence may be had on God, but 
that for temporal and perishing mercies, it cannot he 
that He should be implicitly trusted. What a sad 
reversal of the famous argument of Paul, ' He that 
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us 
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all 
things f and what an equally profane antagonism to 
the sublime proposition of our Lord, ' If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your 
children, how much more shall your Father who is 
in heaven give good things to them that ask him f 
We present, then, this new covenant title of our 
Lord, ' Jehovah-Jirelrj' as an answer to all unbeliev- 
ing cares about this life.' 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 59 

(1.) He alone can provide. A dependant like man 
cannot be his own provider. For many earthly good 
things he depends on the laws of nature— on the light 
and heat of the sun, on the rain and dews of heaven, 
and on the fertility of the soil. Now these laws are 
God's laws, and these things are God's property. 
If he suspend any of these laws, where is the pro- 
vision? Then as to the providences called events^ 
all of them are under his control : ' The lot is cast into 
the lap, but the disposal thereof is the Lord's. Even 
things meant for evil he converts into good, and things 
meant for good into evil. If he were not at the helm, 
everything would get into confusion; for it is his 
wisdom, power, and love that manage all things well. 
Bad as it is, God has not yet withdi'awn from our 
world : his providence still presides over men and 
their affairs. 

(2.) He alone has provided. There is something 
very sublime in the thought, that in all the past all 
things ' have lived, and moved, and had their being in 
God ;' ^ by him all things consist,' and, he ^ preserveth 
man and beast. When an epitome of animal and 
rational creation was shut up in the ark, all were pro- 
vided for by him. This ark is the world — the universe 
in miniature. The universe is just one vast enclosure 
of animate or inanimate being, constantly maintained 
out of his parental bounty. Hence all the past pro- 
vidences of God are illustrations of the faithfulness of 
Jehovah- Jireh. Every good gift in its own place, in 



60 TUE HIDING PLACE. 

its own season, and for its own end, has come down 
fi'om him. No creature of God has ever had just 
cause of complaint against him. Certainly there is 
want, and many are in misery, but folly and reckless 
disregard of God's will are the causes thereof. To 
associate discomfort or destitution with defects in the 
principles of a supreme and sovereign government, 
may be natural to us, but in this connection it is most 
iniquitous. It ought never to be forgotten, that if 
God had had his will, all his creatures should have 
continued perfectly happy; and even yet, if they 
would only give him his will with them, he would 
speedily bring order out of confusion, and joy out of 
grief. If there be a chaos anywhere in matter or in 
mind, this cometh not from the Lord. Nature, it is 
said, abhors a vacuum ; so does Jehovah. To him it is 
grievous to see want where he arranged for plenty, 
and tears bedewing the cheek on which he impressed 
the smile of contentment. It is no pleasure to him 
to hear the cry of distress, where he expected the 
song of gratitude, and to receive the groanings of 
grumbhng, instead of the offerings of gratified children. 
To read aright the character of God from the past 
history of providence, we should find that so far as 
his plans have been adopted, there has been abun- 
dance provided for man of all good things for all 
necessary purposes. 

(3.) He now provides. Let the present exigency 
be what it may, direst poverty or deepest distress. 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 61 

God himself is ' ever a present help.' He has always 
supply at hand for every want and woe. Of his grace 
it is written, not that it may be, or' shall be, but 
that it ^ is sufficient.' In those laws of benevolence 
which he has framed, and in those principles of sym- 
pathy which he has implanted in our natures, he has 
stored up an abundance of consolation for man even 
in his neediest condition. But after all, when the 
heart has been taught to choose himself as its portion, 
in him it has always its chiefest property and choicest 
joy. Does this seem to mock the ills of life, the 
griefs of humanity, the devastation of fond hopes, and 
the rivers of tears that run down the pilgrim's cheek ? 
It really does not do so, inasmuch as there is actually 
provided for the unhappy, what is in itself sufficient 
for present straits ; and if they have lost the way to, 
or their taste for God, this only corroborates our pro- 
position. If, when the night is at the darkest, and 
the storm is at its height; if, when every source 
appears to be dried up, and all props to have given 
way; if, w^hen the spirit of a man is made to feel as 
\^ alone in some vast and dreary solitude of condition ; 
if, we say, the most miserable of beings would only 
then and there open his eyes to what a kind Father 
provides, he would see even in the wilderness of Beer- 
sheba an encompassing angel and streams of water ; 
Baca itself is made a well, and ' the rain also filleth 
the pools.' 

(4.) He will 'provide. The fears of a dependant 



62 THE HIDING PLACE. 

naturally wend into futurity — a futurity which may 
never be reached^ and which, though reached, may 
be found innocent of the apprehended ills. It is man 
as he is, to forecast his own destiny. It is man as he 
ought to be, to ^ take no thought for to-morrow.' 
God cannot change. That fatherly care that has 
supplied in the past, has also provided resources for 
the future. To these, however, many refuse to go. 
They suspend themselves upon torturing solicitude. 
And yet they know that it is God's nature to be kind. 
He has purposed to be generous, for ' his anger is 
turned away' from sinners, in Christ, Yea, it is 
his actual work to have perpetually ready for his 
children, all that may be required for help and com- 
fort. It is equally wicked, then, to doubt the pur- 
poses of his goodness for the coming exigencies, 
as it is to deny that in all the past he has been proved 
to be * the faithful promiser.' Most men are prone, 
notwithstanding, to use their future as if it were some 
portentous horizon upon w^hich fancy may draw deep 
and deadly the shadows of nearing calamity. They 
exist among self-created spectres, and by an un- 
natural effort to live over that future in the present, 
they are the pitiful victims of a poverty that never 
comes, and of changes they are never to see. But 
man may rest assured that what God has done, he 
shall do, and that what he has been, he will ever be ; 
for he is ' the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' 
The most impressive sermon Jesus ever preached 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 63 

gives point and emphasis to this view of providence ; 
while, at the same time, there never was read to 
timid, distrusting man, such a rebuke for his little 
faith. With what admirable propriety did the great 
Teacher summon Hhe lilies of the field,' and Hhe birds 
of the ah',' to testify against ^ worldly anxieties I'* 

II. ^ JeHOVAH-JiREH ' IS ESPECIALLY APPLIC- 
ABLE TO God in his dispensations of grace. 
Man has greater wants than what pertain to the body. 
He has a soul — a precious and deathless soul; and 
yet that soul is ^ dead in trespasses and in sins.' His 
greatest want, then, is a Saviour for that soul. All 
other wants are absolutely as nothing. So important 
is this one, that in relation to its requirements Jesus 
himself said, ^one thing is needful.' So pecuharly 
great, indeed, is his spiritual necessity, that not one 
soUtary point in its awful vastness is supplied by all 
the riches, pleasures, and honours of time. Heaps of 
such things upon a man whose soul is yet ^ dead,^ is 
a melancholy sight, and more revolting to a pure 
and pious intellect than the gaudy robing of a corpse, 
or the gilding of the charnel-house. He most as- 
suredly is not that man's friend who confines his 
regards for him merely to pushing him forward in 
this world, or in inducing others to laud his praises 
in the gates. He is not his friend who would lead 
him through life ignorant of his grand concerns, or 

* Matt. vi. 25. 



64 THE HIDING PLACE. 

teach him to be at ease and happy, independent of 
pardon now, and peace with God. But as no man 
can provide grace for his brother, so this honour 
also appertaineth to the Lord. In this, as in every- 
thing else, he is alone. He alone is our provider; 
for when we were perishing in our sins, he proclaimed, 
^ I have found a ransom,' and forthwith sent his own 
Son into our world to die in our room, which leads 
us for a moment to contemplate God in his greatest 

gift- 

Place any gift of God whatever beside man, as a 
rebel, and it instantly becomes great — great as a 
proof of his generous liberality, and eminently 
proving that no man is worthy even of the least of 
all God's mercies. But what are all the gifts of 
God compared with Jesus Christ ? He is emphatically 
God's ^ unspeakable gift ' — not that he is never to be 
spoken about, but that no language can ever do him 
justice. What are man's greatest wants ? He is a 
transgressor, and needs pardon ; he is depraved, and 
needs renewing; he is wretched, and needs peace; 
he is weak, and needs strength ; he is friendless, and 
needs a confidant ; he is pursued by offended law and 
justice, and needs a ^hiding place;' he is immortal, and 
needs an eternal home. Now, to all these, the Jesus 
of God's providing is perfectly adapted. Tlirough 
him, as our propitiation, the sinner at once gets 
pardon, purity, peace, strength, the best of all 
friends, a dwelling in Christ here, and a mansion 



JEHOVAH- JIREH. 65 

in Christ's Father's house hereafter. Through him, 
besides, every other good gift finds its way to our 
outcast world. But for Christ, not even our bread, 
and water, and raiment, or any earthly enjoyment 
whatever could ever have blessed our lot. And 
through him, we may add, come to us all the means 
of grace, and every spiritual aid ; the sanctuary, with 
its excitements and contributions ; the Bible, with its 
doctrines, promises, and laws ; the Sabbath, with its 
hallowed rest ; the holy sacraments, with their sym- 
bolic memorials ; and above and beyond all, the influ- 
ences of the Holy Ghost himself, who regenerates, 
quickens, sanctifies, establishes, and finally glorifies the 
soul. And then cometh the end — for it is also through 
him that we enter and take possession of heaven itself, 
with its blissful and boundless life. 

Surely, O man, thou art no more an insignificant 
being, when thou art so well taken care of and 
provided for by Jehovah- Jireh ! When wilt thou 
learn properly to estimate thine own importance, 
especially the worth of thy precious soul? Re- 
member thou wert made in the image of God; 
thou wert in his thoughts from eternity ; in the 
fulness of the time he came and lived and died for 
thee. If, then, thou wouldst properly estimate 
thyself, hate sin and love holiness; embrace God 
as thine only and true friend, and believing with 
all thine heart in his parental love, go and inscribe 
on the lintels of thy door-posts, and on the palms 



66 THE HIDING PLACE. 

of thy hands, the blessed and cheering name of 
^ Jehovah-.Iireh.' 

The more full illustration of the applicability of 
this title to Jehovah's dispensations of grace, is left 
to succeeding chapters. Meanwhile, it is proper to 
add, that though in the foregoing the direct reference 
appears to be to God the Father rather than to God 
the Saviour, yet in the strict and substantial sense 
of the words, the title Jehovah-Jireh must be held 
as belonging to the Son — inasmuch as but for his 
voluntary and unparalleled love and condescension, no 
such promise as that of a Saviour could ever have been 
given to mankind sinners : ' Being made perfect, he 
became the autJior of eternal salvation to all that obey 
him.' 



CHAPTER TV. 



JEHOVAH-JIREH: THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 

PART II. 

' Take therefore no thought for the morrow.' 

Matt. vi. 34. 

The startling precept which is placed above, is the 
fair and forcible inference from the foretaught doc- 
trine. If ^ God will provide/ then it is our duty 
to trust implicitly in him, and to ' take no thought 
for the morrow.' Let us, first of all, consider what 
are the sentiments and feelings which are due to 
Jehovah-Jireh, as the God of providence and of 
grace ; and then, secondly, specify some conditions of 
life in which these sentiments and feelings ought 
to be cherished. 

I. Consider our duty to Jehovah-Jireh as 
THE God of providence and of grace. ' Take 
therefore no thought for the morrow,' is Christ's 
description of this duty. But there is surely some 






68 The hiding place. 

modification to be made upon his words. We cannot 
suppose that he meant them to be literally under- 
stood — that he gave countenance to our leading an 
idle, sauntering life, or taught, like the fatalist, that 
as all things are decreed, it is useless for us to scheme 
or work, and that we ought to leave the necessary 
supplies for the morrow to the laws of nature, just 
as we trust to the rising of the sun, or the flowing of 
the tides, over which we have no control. Neither 
can we suppose that there is any prohibition in this 
precept against what is called a ' provident spirit,' — a 
spirit that is, which takes the proper measure of future 
obligations, and Hays by in store' against these. A 
competence is in general the lot of the industrious — a 
superfluity is rare. With the former, the possessor 
has to do three things ; he has to make provision for 
the present wants of himself and family, he has to 
contribute to the support of religion and charity, and, 
having done his duty in these respects, he has to put 
aside so much for future exigencies, whether of 
a secular or sacred nature. It befools the duty of 
trusting in Providence to say that every penny must 
be used up, and nothing laid aside for any future 
purpose whatever. We admit there is danger in 
what is called ' hoarding J Hoarding makes misers, 
and misers cheat themselves and others and God out 
of their due. This, however, is the abuse of a good 
principle. Herein lies its proper use. If a man have 
dependants, and know that demands are to be made 



JEHOVAH-JIEEH. 69 

upon them perhaps after he is dead, he ought, if he 
can, to make some provision for such contingencies. 
Every sober-minded person knows that life is short, 
that property is fickle, and that family wants may 
greatly increase ; hence it becomes duty, if God per- 
mits, to see to it that we are so far prepared for the 
evil day. This rule applies to religious claims in the 
future, as well as to secular. A really good man has 
an eye to both. There are vicissitudes in religion as 
well as in the world. There are times when help to 
the cause of God is much needed, — critical seasons 
when, by extra efforts, much suffering may be re- 
lieved, and much good done. By a christian con- 
servative policy, these exigencies can be met and 
relieved — relieved out of the moderate savings of those 
who fear God, and to whom God had given the 
superfluity (as it is then made evident) for this very 
purpose. What amazing advantages must have 
accrued to the best objects, had all professors of 
Christianity practised economy with such views ! 
When pious men act in this way, they are in reality 
trusting in Providence. It is that Providence that 
enables them to lay by, and if they should leave be- 
hind them widows and orphans, they are virtually 
casting them upon God, when they thus, with wise 
frugality, use their competence of this world's good 
things. 

It may still be rejoined, ought we not, in all these 
things, to trust so implicitly in God, as literally to 



70 THE HIDING PLACE. 

^ take no thought for to-morrow V Are not present 
demands always so pressing as to require from us all 
we have to spare ? We think not. It appears to be 
rather a mean abuse of the precept to use up all we 
have to gratify the claims of the passing hour, 
saying, ^Let God attend to the future; let other 
benevolent persons subscribe out of their abundance.' 
This sounds well, but it is unsound. There is 
nothing to hinder a good man from exercising self- 
denial here. Let him keep within the bounds of 
moderation, and preserve somewhat of his means, 
upon the principle that he is personally bound to 
provide for his household. He thus becomes a 
subscriber to the support of his own widow and 
children, who have the first claim. The chiistian 
religion is eminently a reasonable one, and nothing 
seems to be more reasonable than this arrangement. 
It has been argued against this view, that we are com- 
manded to leave our widows and fatherless children 
upon God. But this scripture has certainly a refer- 
ence, in the first instance, to the poor, and is therefore 
scarcely applicable. Admitting, however, tliat it is 
binding on all in easy circumstanc3S, it is consonant 
with the spirit of the commandment, when they leave 
to their famihes w^iat God has enabled them to save ; 
this is really leaving them ^upon him.' It ought 
not, however, to be forgotten here, that we are 
thus to commit those near and dear to us to our 
Father in heaven, fo^' far more important blessings 



JEHOVAH- JIREH. 71 

than temporal support, namely, for spiritual and 
eternal life. 

The plain import of our Lord's precept is just this, 
that we are not, in labouring for the ^meat that 
perisheth,' to be so absorbed in our business as to 
forget more important things, nor to be so perplexed 
and anxious as to distrust the God we worship and 
love, nor to make our happiness dependent on our 
obtaming worldly prosperity. The maxim of Christ 
goes against icorldly-jnindedness. He breaks this 
maxim in spirit and in letter who is distrustful of 
the future, even while all is dark, and who is 
carnally confident when all is bright. Now, there is 
a proneness in human nature thus to sin ; and a more 
sure counteractive than Christ's plain admonition, 
cannot be conceived. The apostle caught the spirit 
of his Master when he thus exhorted the Philippians: 
* Be carefal for nothing ; ' or, as it may be read, be 
anxious for nothing ; ' but in everything, by prayer 
and supplication, witli thanksgiving, let your requests 
be made known unto God;' which means, that we 
ought to give our minds pleasantly to present duties, 
and leave consequences to God ; and thus, while we 
attend to God's work, God will look after our 
necessities. He who receives grace thus to live, is 
not likely to be ever anticipating the futm^e care ; for 
it is impossible for a finite mind to be occupied at the 
same time with what is and is to come. Besides, in 
keeping this, as in keeping every commandment of 



72 THE HIDING PLACE. 

God, we are securing a blessing — *a great reward;' 
m. fearing God we are made to ^prosper;' and it is 
further said, ' the hand of the diligent maketh rich.' 
There is an impressive enforcement of this principle 
in these words, ^ now is the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation.' If, , therefore, even 
God's richest mercy be as it were shut up within the 
present moment, so must it be with his common 
bounties. The man who in either case does his 
duty, is sure to get both bread and grace for present 
needs. He is so fulfilling the law, that he secures 
for all his future the promise of God ; for his temp- 
tations, sufficient grace; for his trials, abounding 
consolation; for his death-bed, peace; and for his 
eternity, life that shall never end. Let us leave, then, 
the future in God's hand, and take the present into 
our own, while we commend the past to his forgiving 
love. 

The same argument holds good when we view 
God as the God of grace. As we ought not to be 
idle in temporal things, so we ought not to be triflers 
in spiritual. As we ought not to be sinfully or 
sordidly anxious in the one, so we ought not to be 
the victims of inward fears in the other ; and as we 
ought not to be improvident or spendthrifts in this 
world's substance, so we ought not to be selfish or 
ungenerous in our religious privileges. With all 
propriety we must attend, in the first instance, to our 
own conversion and sanctification ; but we are also 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 73 

bound, so to speak, to lay by grace for others, and 
especially for those whose spiritual interests are en- 
trusted to our care. We do this when we exemplify 
our religion, and w^hen we pray much and fervently 
for others, for the house of God, for the coming of the 
kingdom of his Son, and when we do w-hat in us lies 
to maintain at home and abroad his gospel cause. 
While thus engaged, however, we are not Ho take 
thought for the morrow' — we are not to fear for the 
cause of Christ. It shall survive ns — it shall survive 
all. We must have great faith that all will end well. 
Neither must we fear for our own religious comfort and 
well-being: ^As thy days, so shall thy strength be.' 
We should remember that grace always comes with 
the extremity that needs it ; and as a good man often 
finds that his means increase with his relative obliga- 
tions, so he also often discovers that trials bring with 
them the promised help. It would be ridiculous for 
a man wath plenty for all present demands, to be 
killing himself with anxiety, because he has not as 
much as would meet others of twenty-fold greater 
amount, but which have not, and never may have, 
any existence. Let us be assured, then, that the 
duties, tribulations, and temptations of future life 
shall all be accompanied with a corresponding supply 
of heavenly aid, suflScient to do all, and bear all the 
will of God. Thus shall we fulfil the law of Christ, 
and ^ take no thought for the morrow.' 



74 THE HIDING PLACE. 

II. Let us now specify some conditions of 

LIFE IN WHICH THESE SENTIMENTS AUD FEELINGS 

SHOULD BE CULTIVATED. There are of constant 
occurrence in this fitful world, events, and combinations 
of events, in which the spirit of a man is sorely beset, 
and where, if not on his guard, he is sure to go wrong — 
to sink under despondency, or to become presump- 
tuous — to practise deceit, or to pant for revenge — to 
become vain, or to affect modesty. Spiritual men 
are not exempt from these ; hence their painful and 
oft-repeated inconsistencies while undergoing the 
buflPettings and trials of life, and hence also the sneers 
of the enemies of religion, and their taunting query, 
^' Where is thy God?' The following are a few of 
those conditions in which unflinching confidence in 
Jehovah- Jireh is incumbent: — 

1. When ive are prosperous and happy. Prosperity 
is perilous to piety. When a man has nothing but a 
good name and a good will to work honestly for his 
bread, when he is fighting his way with difficulty 
through the world, when the tide is against him, and 
tongues vilify him, and when all the future looks big 
with evil, it is not then that he is most in danger. 
It is when he has crossed the bar, and is riding 
safely moored in the harbour of plenty ; when he has 
mastered diflSculties, and secured honour and influ- 
ence, and when he sees no dark spot on the horizon 
to remind him of dependence, and to regulate desire — 
it is then that he has need to practise circumspection. 



JEHOYAn-JIREH. 75 

Why ? Because he must be more than man, if he 
can pass through such a season uninjured. Let his 
sagacity and self-control be what they may, he is 
indeed nigh to self-complacency, and is in danger of 
putting on ridiculous airs. But the principal danger 
is, that he forgets God, and ascribes his success to 
liimself, or to some of those lucky hits, as they are 
called, which are as tides in the affairs of men, and, if 
* taken at the height, lead on to fortune.' Most 
worldly men make no secret of this ; they avow it, 
they glory in it, and are unconscious of any danger 
from their elevation and opulence. A pious man is 
of a different opinion. He is persuaded that without 
divine grace he is sure to become carnally confident, 
and to bring upon himself and his estate the curse due 
to heartless ingratitude. He consequently sets about 
serious jealousy of himself, and fills his spirit with 
lowly thoughts, while God fills his cup with pknty. 
He knows that weak humanity is not to be trusted in 
any of the extremes of life, and hence he prays with 
Agur, ' Give me neither poverty nor riches.' He 
knows that present success is apt to engender pride 
and presumption, and that even one of the best of 
men once confessed, ' In my prosperity I said, I shall 
never be moved ;' hence, his low estate at the first, his 
gi'eat demerits still, and the vanity inseparable from 
man, even at his best estate, are often placed before 
his mind. He knows also that prosperity is apt to 
induce the feeling that we shall close hfe in the midst 



7G THE HIDING PLACE. 

of the present, or even of greater abundance, and 
hence, remembering ' the man of Uz,' he takes care 
not to say with him, ' I shall die in my nest/ To 
preserve himself from such sins, he determines to bid 
his affections sit loose to the world, to exercise as 
much trust in God as ever, and to cherish the feeling 
of dependence as strongly as when he was poor and 
unknown, when the pressing claims of to-day were 
such as almost to exclude from his thoughts^ the very 
idea of a to-morrow. 

A meek and lowly spirit is inseparable from piety. 
You can no more separate these, than you can divorce 
justice from equity, or charity from love. Hence you 
will ever find a pious rich man ' poor in spirit.' If, 
then, in your happy days, you would insure their 
continuance, and, at the same time, your growth in 
grace, keep down natural propensities, rein in vain 
fancies, and put out self-importance. Consider your- 
selves more in need than ever of submitting your 
souls to all the means and ordinances of grace, secret 
and pubHc. It has been well said by South, that 
^ they who lie soft and warm in a rich estate, seldom 
come to heat themselves at the altar ;' but be it your 
firm purpose to Hve nearer to God, the more you 
enjoy of his providential bounty. As an additional 
motive, never forget that the tenure by which you 
hold any present good is very frail — the first puff of 
adversity may snap it in twain. Alas ! how crowded 
are the shelves of the world's hbrary \^'ith tales of 



JEHOVAH- JIREH. 77 

its owai fickleness and failures! He is but a sorry 
observer who has not in his eye some instance thereof, 
wherein one was, but a short time ago, lolling in easy 
affluence, and is now in the dust and dirt of poverty. 
What wisdom and kindness are in these words, ' Boast 
not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a 
day may bring forth V Who can tell what is to befal 
him ere he is ^gathered to his people' — what mortifi- 
cations await his pride, what scenes of distress are to 
rend his heart, what thundering avalanches of this 
life's calamities are to fall upon and crush him? 
Reader, be humble : ^ before honour is humility ;' * a 
haughty spirit goeth before a fall.' If you be pros- 
perous, and wish to continue so, ' love not the world, 
nor the things that are in the world ;' ^ be not con- 
formed to this world ;' and resolve thus, with the 
apostle, ^ God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' But if you 
are prosperous, and wish that it be cursed to your 
interests, or that God may take it all away, then lie 
at ease in your nest ; let the self-complacency of getting 
on in life supplant the meekness of the christian ; let 
your hearts grow fat and kick — only just live for your- 
selves, and your children, and your citizenship, and 
you may depend upon it, that the last chapter of Job's 
life must, to be true of you, be read backwards, for 
your latter end shall be less than your beginning. 
2. When straitened and wretched. The best of men 



78 THE HIDING PLACE. 

are often the most straitened. Their piety does not 
always succeed in taking their affections from this 
world. Hence they must suffer ; for, as Newton says, 
^ If a man will make his nest below, God will put a 
thorn in it ; and if that will not do, he will set it on 
fire.' Now, there is peril in such a state. Man is 
oftener in straits and difficulties than in ease and 
plenty. As in the latter he is apt to become self- 
confident and forget God, so in the former, if not 
decidedly pious, he is apt to make himself the victim 
of some false moves in order to right himself, or, to 
sink into despondency. The remedy in both cases is 
the same — still Hrust in God;' even now, when all 
is dreary and forbidding, hope in him who is ^the 
health of thy countenance, and thy God ;' for though 
* no creature can be a substitute for G od, God can be 
a substitute for every creature.' Meditate frequently 
on such truths as the following : — You deserve it all, 
you need it all, you w'ill be the better for it all, and 
out of it all God shall yet deliver you. If you are 
able to ' take no thought for the morrow,' and to ' cast 
all your cares' upon Christ, it is evident tliat the 
greatest weight of the present care must be removed, 
namely, fear for the fiiture. Only try to keep 
thought within the current twenty-fom' hours, and 
you will find that, though the case be as dire as 
catastrophe can make it, you will at least be re- 
lieved of the anxiety that grieves the spirit. Light 
is sweet : darkness is not agreeable. Hence we 



JEHOYAH-JIREH. 79 

enjoy the day, and we sleep during the night. How- 
unreasonable would it be not to enjoy the day, because 
the night with its sombre shades draws nigh ! True, 
it is of the dark days we now speak ; but then there is 
seldom, if ever, in the good man's life a day so very 
dark as to exclude every glimmering ray from his e3^e 
or his path. Let that light be used, and the ' way 
out' of straits shall be discerned. And, dingy 
though every day be, there is still beyond it a darker 
night. Duty and interest, therefore, call upon us to 
use such Hghts as we have — to walk as the children of 
such light, and to believe that ^sufficient unto the 
day is the evil thereof.' Let us keep at a distance 
from our minds the coming night. O, it is ever this 
coming night that chafes the temper, and sinks the 
soul of man ! But what have we to do with the 
coming night? Let the trials and duties of the 
present day engross us, and when this night comes, 
we shall find that it has at least a moon to walk amid 
its firmament, or some twinkling star to cheer with 
its radiance. And even though our worst fears come 
true, what then ? — time is short at the longest, and it 
will soon be all over. Our trials are summer storms, 
severe while they last, but quickly off; yea, the more 
tempestuously they rage, they all the sooner dash our 
frail bark across the stream to Canaan's happy shore, 
where all ' the days of our mourning shall be ended.' 
Truly we attach too much importance to our adver- 
sities and afflictions, when we allow them the weight 



80 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and authority of real evils, and so expose our spiritual 
joys to their bitter blasts, as to endanger their being 
blown completely out. Trials are blessings in dis- 
guise. They are sent to hasten us home. Otherwise 
we should linger in this world's plain, and perish in 
the fires of Sodom. 

' Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.' 

A merchant, we are told, lost his all in a storm, and 
then went to Athens to study philosophy. He soon 
discovered that it was better to be wise than to be 
wealthy, and said, 'periissem nisi periissem^ — I should 
have lost all, unless I had lost much. In like manner, 
the christian finds out that there is a blessing in afflic- 
tion, and says, ' It is good for me that I have been 
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.' 

3. When doubtful as to the path of duty. The 
present duty has often a direct bearing upon the 
future one ; hence the necessity, after all, of some- 
times taking thought for the morrow.' It is often 
difficult to know what present duty is, in which case 
we are, like Raselas, ^ afraid to go forward, lest we 
go wrong.' Now is the time to appreciate Jehovah- 
Jireh. He can, and he will give the needed direc- 
tion ; for it is written, ^ In all thy ways acknowledge 
him, and he will direct thy steps.' Happy indeed is 
that man who knows at such times what to do. He 
goes and tells Jesus all about it, and leaves him to 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 81 

determine the matter. Of course, he uses his own 
reason to ponder all the circumstances, and to dis- 
cover the steps that he should take. But sometimes, 
after all this has bsen done, the difficulty remains. 
This is a very common, it is an every-day predica- 
ment with most men. A good rule here to w^alk by 
must be of great importance. It is this, — cherish 
confidence in the wisdom and goodness of Jehovah- 
Jireh, and leave the case in his hands, after earnest 
prayer that the path of duty may be soon opened up. 
Multitudes never think of doing this; hence their 
ridiculous and often humiliating positions. When 
this is done, and done rightly, divine direction is sure 
to come. The heavens may not be opened— no 
audible voice from above may speak to us ; but cir- 
cumstances speedily occur, by which the mind is 
assured, and a path is opened up to the view, w^here 
all before w-as thicket and maze ; it is then that we 
feel as joyful and confident in stepping into it, as 
if we had actually heard a voice saying, ' This is the 
way ; walk ye in it.' 

4. When provoked or injured. The regulation and 
control of temper is an important moral obligation. 
In the whirls and bustles of the world, temper is often 
fretted, and if not under the influence of christian 
principle, it is certain to be lost. The proper manage- 
ment of our emotional nature requires the presence 
and power of the sternest principles of religion. 
Where these are awanting, or are kept in abeyance, 



82 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the results become baneful to ourselves and others. 
When injured, then, or irritated, our best plan is to 
remember Jehovah-Jireh ; and if we believe that he 
will provide compensation or justification, we can 
afford to be cool. Sinful anger begets a passion for 
revenge. To obviate this, let God be appealed to, 
and his answer will be, ^Vengeance is mine; I will 
repay.' With regard to ordinary provocations, our 
safety and consistency are best consulted by suppres- 
sing every desire for retaliation ; and remembering 
that there is a God who reigns in justice, let us leave 
it to him to inflict punishment — to bring forth our 
righteousness in due time, and to indemnify us, as he 
sees proper, for losses sustained. In this, Christ is our 
pattern. He endured, without murmuring, injuries 
of all kinds ; when ' reviled, he reviled not again ;' 
and on the cross his latest prayer was for pardon to 
his murderers. We too must forgive ^ until seventy 
times seven.' Not to do so, imperils our safety when 
we pray, * forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
debtors.' Again, when suddenly and grievously pro- 
voked, and when the desire of vengeance becomes 
very strong, we are still bound by the same rule, 
and must not take the matter out of God's hands. 
We do so to our loss. When Jehovah-Jireh sees 
us bent on revenging ourselves, he lets us alone, 
and so arranges his providence that even success 
does not gratify us. But it is seldom that he 
permits us to succeed. It is his law that has been 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 83 

broken, and he alone lias the right to punish. The 
best retaliation, then, any man can make, is to hand 
over his case to the Judge of all the earth, and think 
no more about it. This is the way to bridle temper, 
to quench passion, and even to ^ heap coals of fire on 
our enemy's head.' — Thus do we please God — thus 
do we preserve our integrity and commend our re- 
ligion — and thus we may be the means of subduing the 
enmity of others, and of bringing them to their right 
minds. It is thus God himself deals with men. He 
forbears with them — he suffers long and is kind ; and 
it is only when all his mercy is obstinately rejected, 
that he allows them to taste the folly of their own 
devices. It is thus that he wins back his own rebel 
children ; not by threats, but by promises ; not by 
anger but by love ; not by the law, but by the gos- 
pel; not by the ministers of his wrath, but by the 
mission and mediation of his beloved Son. Let us 
then 'be followers of God, as dear children.' 

5. V/hen tempted to heinous sins. Not to look to 
God to provide the grace needed at such seasons, is 
alike foolish and wicked ; for if we look to ourselves 
or to others, we look in vain, and fall. But if we 
trust to him, and lean upon him with all our heart, 
we are sure to have a door of escape opened to us. 
When at any time grievously beset — when the fascina- 
tions of holiness are losing their power — when we feel 
the moral and religious structure within us shaking 
to its foundations — when brought, as we may be. 



84 THE HIDING PLACE. 

into circumstances where a breath is enough to upset 
our most sturdy purposes, then is the time to use 
Jehovah- Jireh. Our instant appeal must be made to 
him for the necessary supphes of holy thoughts and 
desires, otherwise we are lost. He alone, in his holi- 
ness and mercy, is the gracious provider of all the 
antagonistic motives to sin. Arguments drawn from 
other sources, such as the fear of man, the care of our 
character, and the preservation of our worldly in- 
terests, cannot, and do not stand before such terrible 
invations of impure desires ; they become as chaff on 
the summer thrashing-floor, and are swallowed up in 
a moment, in the whirlpool of maddened lust. But he 
who remembers God, and makes his powerful appeal 
to him for help in the hour of such trials, is sure to 
grapple successfully with the tempter, and return 
from the combat ' more than a conqueror.' 

6. When laid on a death-bed. No character of life 
can put off death. Our race is, after all, to the grave. 
We may gallop over the course in the hey-day of 
mirth, or drag our slow length along in misery ; we 
may be Dives, or we may be Lazarus, or we may 
have been both — all is ended in the grave. And what 
a solemn sound is the drawing of the latest breath ! 
It matters not now whether the man has been great 
or mean, loved or hated, prosperous or unfortunate. 
He is dead now. But it greatly matters to him hoic 
he is to die. Time is gone. Eternity is at the door, 
and with eternity, the Judge of all. Who is blessed 



JEHOVAH JIREH. 85 

then ? Tliey only who have loved and known him 
as Jehovah-Jireh, and who can now plead a new 
covenant right to his favour. Many of God's people 
sin by 'taking tlioughf of their death-bed, as if his 
merciful provisions for them should then be withdrawn 
or exhausted. Impossible ! Then, if ever, is he present 
with abundance. Their God and their guide unto 
death, he gives them enough of dying grace for their 
dying work; and hence it is that many christians 
have testified that the death-bed they dreaded never 
came. Still, even with the best, it is felt to be an 
awful thing to die — to die, and to have our everlasting 
destiny fixed. And who is sufficient to face it ? He 
is whose sole trust is in Jehovah-Jireh — to whom 
the Lord has given grace to believe in the atonement 
made for sin. He can commit his spirit unto God, 
as into the hands of a faithful Creator ; and this is 
one of the highest privileges of the saint. But God 
never throws away such a privilege upon mere nominal 
christians, or upon cowardly terrorism. He gives it 
them who can, and who do trust that he will be 
faithful to his promise. When, then, it comes to your 
turn to die, O unbelieving man, you shall be para- 
lysed with fear ! God has been the witness of all 
your conduct, and is now to be your Judge ! What 
shall you answer him ? You shall be speechless ! 
Now is the time to settle all such matters. Believe 
now in Jehovah-Jireh, and when you die, you shall 
in reality only begin to live. K you believe now, you 



8Q THE HIDING TLACE. 

may trust then ; and if you so trust, all will be well. 
Trusting God puts him upon his honour — it tests his 
faithfulness — it brings near his abundant provision 
of gi^ace for the hour of need. All may then forsake 
— he remains. He will lead you safely through the 
waters ; he will afford you what are called manifesta- 
tions of his love, which will make your dying pillow 
the softest you ever slept on, your dying exercises the 
most delightful you ever experienced, and your dying 
moment the most glorious in your existence. Only 
let it never be forgotten that your death-bed trust 
shall be the same in kind wdth your life-long trust. 
If you have perfect confidence that the Lord will 
provide now, you will hold that conSdence fast to the 
end ; but if you withhold it from him at present, it is 
almost certain that trusting in him then shall be im- 
possible—hoping in him then a mere delusion — and 
dying in him then a fancy which death itself shall 
dissolve. 



CHAPTEE Y. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU : THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

PAKT I. 

' TLis is his name whereby he shall be called, JEHOVAn-TsiDHEKU, 
THE Lord oi:r Kighteodsxess.' 

Jeremiah xxiii. 6. 

That man is altogether destitute of personal right- 
eousness, is a doctrine which pervades the Bible. 
The frequency with which it is repeated, and the 
stress laid upon it, afford abundant evidence that it 
is God's wish that the sinner be deeply impressed 
with it — a conviction thereof being indispensable 
to the believing appreciation of the mediatorial 
righteousness of the provided surety. Jesus Christ 
can never be prized as long as one thought of personal 
merit remains in the human heart. While, then, it 
begets a general confidence in God, as Jehovah-Jireh, 
that he will give us all good things, the most illustrious 
instance of his right to this title, is his having merci- 
fully provided for us that of which we stand most in 
need — Hhe righteousness of Christ.' The guilt and 



88 THE HIDING PLACE. 

depravity of man constitute the bane of his existence ; 
the justifying righteousness of Jesus constitutes the 
antidote— the blessing — the first and last of all the 
divine manifestations of love. He that possesseth 
this righteousness, is saved ; he that liveth and dieth 
without it, is for ever lost. We fear that many 
gospel hearers do not understand what this righteous- 
ness means. Familiar with the expression itself, 
which occurs, and is so often insisted upon in every 
gospel appeal, they are in danger of settling down 
under the impression that they know what it is ; but 
on subjecting them to examination, their ignorance 
becomes painfully evident. Let us then endeavour 
to ascertain its exact import, and to point out the 
mode of its application. A more weighty or im- 
portant subject cannot be handled by the teacher, 
nor investigated by the earnest pupil of religion. 
It has often been discussed after an abstract or 
metaphysical manner; but we shall do so with 
studied simplicity, under the following heads of 
method ; — The mediatorial elements in, the divine use 
of, and the human action upon this righteousness. 
Let us examine — 

I. The Mediatorial elements in Justifying 
EiGHTEOUSNESS. We are disposed to take it for 
granted that man is totally destitute of personal 
righteousness. The point could be easily proved by 
an appeal to scripture and to human experience ; but 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 80 

we waive the discussion. The reader, it is hoped, is 
conscious that ' by the deeds of the law no flesh living 
can be justified ;' that ' there is none that doeth good ; 
no, not one;^ and that 'the carnal mind is enmity 
against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be.' Who is he that hath ever 
succeeded in obtaining pardon on the ground of ' good 
works ? ' yea, who is he that can produce such works ? 
By nature man is depraved and condemned, because 
he has broken the law of God ; innocence^ therefore, 
is out of the question ; so also must be the life 
of the fallen creature; 'for all have sinned and 
come short of the glory of God.' The impossibiHties 
in the way of our "becoming reconciled to God are 
appalling, the difficulties insurmountable. As to God^ 
he is holy, and he is true to his threatenings as well as 
to his promises. As to the law, it must be satisfied for 
past breaches ; and how can present obedience, which 
is always due, supplement the past, the guilt of which 
remains uncancelled ? Besides, there is now inherent 
deficiency in all attempts to obey it, and it cannot accept 
of anything short of perfection. As to man himself J 
being thoroughly corrupted by sin, or, as the apostle 
states it, ' without strength,' he will not, and therefore 
cannot fulfil the divine precepts. To these he must 
give all, or nothing; for the law cannot relax — his 
obedience must be absolutely perfect — he must love 
God with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and 
strength, and his neighbour as himself. A mo- 



90 THE HIDING PLACE. 

mentary suspension, then, or the least abatement of 
love, must be fatal to him. It is not with the mere 
/o/7w, but with the spirit of love that he must ^ run in 
the way of God's commandments.' His conformity 
to them must be uninterrupted every moment, and 
in every circumstance, to the last breath he draws. 
Who is sufficient for these things ? Man as he was 
in innocence : but not man as he is in sin. Hence 
we discard all idea of his justification on the ground 
of his own works. Must he then suffer the penalty ? 
No ; God be thanked, the righteousness of another 
is provided for him, offered to him, and put down 
to his account by the great Lawgiver himself. How, 
then, was this righteousness procured, and by whom ? 
The Son of God undertook to work it out. In order 
to this, he was ^made of a woman, made under 
the law, to redeem them that were under the law.' 
The necessity of his becoming man is apparent. 
It was man that sinned, and it must be man that 
obeys; it was man that was condemned, and it 
must be man that suffers and dies. Jesus Christ 
therefore, put himself, of his own free will, exactly in 
the sinner's place — under the law as a rule of life, and 
under the penalty as due to transgressors. 

(1.) He gave himself to the law to ohey it. ' Pay 
me that thou owest,' is the inflexible demand of that 
law, not ' one jot or tittle' of which can be abated. 
So it speaks to the sinner, who cannot pay one farthing 
of his debt. But so it also speaks to Jesus, who is 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 91 

that sinner's substitute, and who replies, ' I will pay 
thee all his debts;' and immediately he places himself 
' under the law.' He made it the rule of his life — 
he, the very lawmaker and lawgiver, subjected his 
whole conduct to the requirements of his own law. 
The divine commandments, therefore, met him every 
day, every moment of his sojourn on the earth ; each 
claimed for itself sincere and perfect obedience, and all 
were ever satisfied. All his feelings, and sentiments, 
and desires were in strict conformity with its spiritual 
nature ; and all his words and actions * magnified the 
law and made it honourable.' Nor was this owing 
to his freedom from temptation ; for as ' never man 
spake,' so never man was tempted ' like unto this man.' 
He lived and moved amid abounding iniquity. Devils 
assailed and man oppressed him, but none ever 
succeeded in causing him to sin. His obedience was 
cheerful; he said, 'I delight to do thy will, O my 
God.' It was as extensive as the law itself, and com- 
prehended perfect love both to God and man. It 
was perpettuxl — by night and by day — from childhood 
to manhood — in the scene of social friendship, or 
amid the insults and cruelties of infatuated men — 
upon the top of the mountain, when ' all the kingdoms 
of the world and the glory of them ' were offered to 
him, and at the foot of the cross, when they ^ gave 
him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.' His obe- 
dience was uninterrupted, in every sense, up to the 
hour of death. Never was law, human or divine, 



92 THE HIDING PLACE. 

SO honoured as this ! The laws under which angels 
and other holy creatures live, no doubt receive a per- 
fect obedience from them ; but their condition of 
existence is submission to their Creator — they are 
commanded to obey, and must obey, else they cease 
to live. But the Son of God was under no such neces- 
sity : he, as divine, is above all law. When, there- 
fore, he is found under any law, it must be an act of 
condescension on his part, for which only one reason 
can be assigned — the reason, namely, that existed for 
his appearance in our nature and in our stead, as 
guilty sinners, to obey for us ; and thus to have at his 
command an amount of obedience or lighteousness 
which he could dispose of according to his pleasure, 
seeing that he had no need whatever for any of it to 
himself. All that grand and glorious life of holiness, 
then, which he led on earth is his disposable property ; 
he can do with it what he pleases — give it to whom 
lie pleases ; and the sinner to whom it is given is, 
from that moment, held as righteous, or as having 
obeyed the law, and is pardoned and received accord- 
ingly. But we spake of his having fulfilled the law of 
God up to the hour of his death. His death ! What 
means this ? What has death to do with a perfectly 
righteous man, who in his nature was holy, and had 
all his life been ' harmless, undefiled, separate from 
sinners ?' Is not death, under the moral government 
of a just God, the punishment due to sin? How, 
then do we find it associated with the sinless ? What 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 93 

has such a life as Christ's to do with death? O, 
what mean the agony of Gethsemane and the tragedy 
of Calvary? The explanation follows : — 

(2.) He gave himself to the penalty of the law to 
i^uffer it, ' The soul that sinneth, it shall die' — ' cursed 
is every one that continueth not in all things which 
are wTitten in the book of the law to do them' — are the 
judicial determinations of the Holy One. As, then, 
man had to obey, and could not — which inabiiit}^ 
<hsposed Christ to obey for him — so man having 
disobeyed, and come under condemnation, Christ 
decided also to ^suffer' for him. The law has two 
favourites, and it can overlook neither. It is very- 
fond of homage to its precepts^ and must have it ; and 
it is very inflexible in exacting the penalty from every 
one who violates it, whether in thought, word, or deed, 
and cannot forego it. Our ^Mediator having given it 
the Qrst-it-homage, must needs also give it the second 
— death ; and as he lived for us, so ' he died for us.' 
Absolutely, there was n<^ necessity for him living or 
obeying ; but neither was there any for his suffering 
and dying in our stead. Having undertaken, how- 
ever, to pay all our debts, he had to satisfy the 
demands of divine justice, as well as those of divine 
law. As, then, it w^as not for himself he obeyed, so 
it was not for himself that he died. Yes ; for us he 
lived, and for us he died : ^ He hath given himself 
for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God, for a 
sweet smelling savour.' The law was offended with 



94 ' THE HIDING PLACE. 

our unsavoury transgressions, but it scented a sweet 
smell from the beautiful conformity of Jesus to its 
spirit and its forms ; the law was indignant at our 
wickedness and impiety, and would have taken ven- 
geance on us, but the incense of his sacrifice on the 
altar of divine justice appeased its wrath, and pacified 
it towards us for ever. ' Sing, O ye heavens, for the 
Lord hath done it ! Shout, ye lower parts of the 
earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O 
forest, and every tree therein ; for the Lord hath 
redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.' 
It was indeed iJiy life^ O man, that was thus redeemed, 
and at such a price. Christ's life and Christ's death 
were paid for thee. Thus it is his life that is the 
' fountain' of thine. No doubt this mediatorial stream 
appears as if it were lost in the death of the cross. 
But it is neither lost nor arrested ; its passage was 
for a time dark and subterranean, but in his glorious 
rising from the tomb it re-appeared, and sprang up 
into life everlasting. It shall never be hid again ; for 
' in that he died, he died unto sin once ; but in that 
he liveth, he liveth unto God.' His language to every 
sinner now is the same as it was to the disciples : ' I 
am come that ye may have life, and that ye may have 
it more abundantly ;' and, ' because I live, ye shall 
live also.' 

What, then, did Jesus Christ do for sinners ? The 
general reply to this is — 'he died for them^ This, 
however, is only half of the truth, God be praised, 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 95 

he died for them, but did he not also live for them ? 
He did. For more than thirty weary years, he was 
' under the law ' for them, subjected, during that 
long period, to all manner of temptation and indignity. 
It was not at the end, but at the beginning, and 
throughout the entire course of his life, that he was 
Hhe man of sorrows, and the acquaintance of grief.' 
We are told that he ' bare our sins in his own body 
on the tree ;' that is, our liabilities in consequence of 
sin were laid upon, or borne by him ' to the tree,' or 
onwards from the cradle to the cross. From the 
moment he was capable of suffering, he ^ bare our sins ;' 
^ his obedience was up to death, even the death of the 
cross.' Let us beware, then, when we think of our 
obligations to the blessed Saviour, not to exclude his 
holy, patient, and kind life ; or, when we read, or hear, 
or think of what is called his ^ righteousness^ let us not 
put asunder what God hath joined together — Christ's 
life and Christ's death — Christ's life for our life, and 
Christ's death for our death. The law still demands 
perfect obedience, but it is his it takes, not ours; 
still exacts death for transgression, but it is his it 
gets, not ours. ^ There is therefore now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' 

(3.) But a highly important question must be here 
considered. Holy as his hfe was, and precious as his 
blood is, was it not after all but the life of one and the 
death of one ; and how can these be in the stead of the 



I 



96 THE HIDING PLACE. 

millions upon millions of lives and deaths to which 
the violated law of God lays claim ? We have but 
to think of the divinity of the Saviour, to be perfectly 
satisfied on these points. He who was the Son of 
Mary was also the Son of God. Hence the righteous- 
ness which he wrought out is a divine righteousness, 
and being divine, its intrinsic value is infinite. This 
imparts to every act of his obedience, as well as to 
every tear he shed, and to every agony he endured, 
both before and at his crucifixion, a boundless worth 
sufficient to satisfy the law and justice of God ^to 
the uttermost.' Had he been only man, all he did 
and suffered would have been of no avail as a pro- 
pitiation, and must have classified him only among 
the foremost of martyrs to truth. His divinity is 
therefore the grand atoning element that gives to his 
mediation its law-honouring and justice-satisfying 
power; it makes his one life and his one death, as 
propitiating for sin, more valuable than all the lives 
and deaths ' of the ransomed. But this is not all. 
His obedience unto d.eath was entirely voluntary : ' I 
lay down my life, that I might take it again. No 
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to 
take it again.' And here we cannot fail to be 
deeply afiPected with the marvellous character of his 
love for our souls. Had there been the shghtest 
constraint upon him, the atoning merit of his right- 
eousness must have been a fiction, and we could not 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 97 

have trusted in it as sufficient to meet the demands 
upon us. As it was altogether free, however, so 
is it altogether worthy of our unlimited confidence. 
This gave to it the charm that pacifies the angry- 
law, and this gives to it the influence that enchains 
our hearts. Added to this, was the vicarious or 
suretyship character of his righteousness : ' He 
loved us and gave himself for us^ — ' He suffered 
the just for (or in the room of) the unjust' — ^ He 
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised 
for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed.' If 
Christ was not a substitute, then he is not a Saviour ; 
if he was not in the sinner's place, then the sinner 
has not only no righteousness of his own, but none 
anywhere else available for him. But blessed be 
God, we know and believe that he came in our 
nature to stand in our place ; hence our sins were 
kid upon him, and with our sins, our punishment. 
There is not a more awful truth in the Bible than 
this, that he was ' made a curse for us.' Nor can we 
exclude from this analysis the nature of the death 
to which he was subjected. It was an accursed or 
shameful one — crucifixion ; the penalty paid for crime 
by the most abject and worthless. It was a painful 
one— beyond conception excruciating, and altogether 
so abhorrent to nature, that the very sun hid his face 
from it, and the very rocks broke their hearts when 
he ' cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.' 



98 THE HIDING PLACE. 

Above and beyond all, his life and death were not only 
appointed hy, but actually accepted of the Father as a 
suitable righteousness for the chief of sinners. He had 
lain in that Father's bosom from eternity, ' rejoicing 
always before him.* Angels had done him homage; 
and when sent into the world to do that Father's will, 
he had made it his ' meat and his drink' to do so. With 
all he did and suffered, then, Jehovah was perfectly 
satisfied, yea, infinitely delighted. Hence, as the proof 
of his complacency in him as the sinner's substitute, he 
^raised him from the dead, and set him at his -own 
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, 
and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come.' 

Such, then, is the righteousness of Christ, which is 
offered freely, ^ without money and without price,' to 
mankind sinners in the glorious gospel. God is pleased 
with it, and it now only remains for men to be pleased 
w^ith it, and make it their own. It is needed by them 
all, for 'there is none righteous ;' it is suited to them 
all, for it meets every case and answers every claim ; 
it is offered to them all, for it is written, * Look unto 
me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth;' and 
again, ' He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for 
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.' 
What a magnificent thing, then, is the mediatorial 
righteousness of Jesus Christ ! How astonishing that 
any should despise it, and that any should perish with 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 99 

it lying at their very door ! O that every one had a 
just sense of what is meant by these well-known and 
often-used words, ^for Christ's sake F When used by 
faith, these are the very words that enter into the 
heart of God, and move him to pity and pardon the 
most wicked of transgressors. But for ' his sake,' God 
could have no merciful dealings with men. On the 
ground, however, of his righteousness, God is well 
pleased with every poor penitent who has the wisdom 
to appreciate and the heart to use it. Come hither, 
then, thou naked, guilty, and condemned soul! O 
come to the Saviour, and when thy conscience accuses 
thee, refer it to the bountiful holiness of thy Surety, 
and it will be silenced in a moment ; — when the law 
thunders upon thee, look to the ' Lamb of God,' and 
its intonations will die away among the heights of 
Calvary ; — and when stern and inflexible justice raises 
its sword to strike thee, put it in remembrance that 
it once awoke upon ^the man that was God's fellow' 
and thy substitute, and instantly it will be sheathed. 
Be this thy constant aim, from this time forward, ^ to 
win Christ, and be found in him, not having thine 
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which 
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which 
is of God by faith;' and then thou mayest sing with 
all thy heart, ^ Thou art my hiding place, O God ; ' 
for it is at length a glorious truth that, thy ^ life is 
hid with Christ in God.' 



CHAPTER YI. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU : TEE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

PART II. 

' Briug forth the best robe, and put it on him.' 

Luke xv. 22. 

Having examined the Mediatorial elements in 
justifying righteousness, we now proceed to consider 
what may be described as — 

II. The Divine use of Justifying Eighteous- 

NESS. The obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ 
were the fulfilment of a ^ commandment ' which, 
he says, he ' received from the Father.' In the 
economy of redemption, the Father, or the first 
person of the holy Trinity, represents the Godhead. 
As sin was an offence to all the three persons equally, 
they must be held as equally interested in its punish- 
ment or in its pardon. Hence the Father spares 
not, but sends his Son ; the Son spares not, but gives 
himself; and the Holy Ghost spares not, but coii- 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 101 

descends to dwell in human hearts, for the purpose 
of quickening and applying to them all the blessings 
of the redemption purchased by Christ. At the same 
time, the Father is uniformly represented as, for the 
o'thers, receiving the satisfaction rendered to violated 
law and insulted justice. While, however, the first 
and chief end of the whole mediatorial arrangements 
contemplated the vindication of the divine faithful- 
ness, and the upholding of the divine government in 
the pardon of the guilty, we must not forget, that but 
for that intended pardon, no such arrangements would 
]iave been required. Now, then, that they are made — 
that is, now that Jesus Christ has lived and died for 
sinners — it follows that divine action must be taken 
upon the propitiatory righteousness constructed out 
of that substitutionary life and deatji. When Jesus 
Christ was ' received up into glory,' he entered heaven 
in a public character, as the 'forerunners^ and sat 
down upon his throne as the representative and 
^ advocate ' of his people ; ^ for Christ is not entered 
into the holy places made with hands, which are the 
figures of the true; but into heaven itself, 7iow to 
appear in the presence of God for us.'' And what 
was it that he did when he made this appearance in 
the presence of God ? He delivered up, so to speak, 
the sum total of that holy life he had been leading on 
earth, and the propitiatory excellence of that accursed 
death he had died on the cross, into the hands of 
his Father, that by him all might be used for the 



102 THE HIDING PLACE. 

benefit of sinners of mankind — used according to the 
good pleasure of his will, primarily for that Father's 
glory, and ultimately for these sinners' salvation. 
Having novr, then, at his free and sovereign disposal 
a kind and amount of righteousness sufficient for the 
justification of the most guilty, what remained for the 
great Lawgiver to do, but to use it for the purposes 
for which it was ' brought in ; ' that is, to apply, or 
put it down to the credit of sinners ? Let us, there- 
fore, attentively consider the nature of the divine use 
of, or action upon, the righteousness of our Saviour. 

(1.) We have a very beautiful and impressive 
illustration of this action in the address of the angel 
regarding Joshua the high priest : * ' Take away the 
filthy garments firom him. And unto Joshua he said, 
Behold, I have caused thine iniquities to pass from 
thee, and I will clothe thee vdth change of raiment.' 
In the application of this to the sinner, we have an 
easy access to the divine mode of dealing with him in 
this matter. Under the figure of ' filthy garments,' 
we have represented to us our personal merits, or 
rather demerits. Our own works are to the soul 
what unclean and tattered raiment is to the body — 
neither comely, nor comfortable, nor in any way 
suitable. Humiliating, indeed, is such a description 
to our natural pride; but scripture everywhere corro- 
borates the representation : ^ What is man, that he 
should be clean ? and he which is born of a woman, 

* Zech. iii. 4. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 103 

that he should be righteous ? Behold, He putteth no 
trust in his saints ; yea, the heavens are not clean in 
his sight ; how much more abominable and filthy is 
man, which drinketh iniquity like water V * ' They 
are all gone aside, they are all together become 
filthy .'t ^ We are all as an unclean thing, and all 
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.'J Now, it is 
in reference to these most miserable outfittings of 
sin, that our heavenly Father gives the order to 
^take them away' — which order implies a right j a 
will, a power, and a, purpose, on God's part, to do so. 
The order implies his rigid to do so. Certainly no 
other has such. Justification, even in its incipient 
and earliest, as well as at its latest and most glorious 
developments, is the act of God alone : ^ Christ is 
made of God unto us righteousness.' It was his law 
that was broken, and the pardon cannot possibly 
come except from himself. But it is his right specially 
and exclusively, because the righteousness, on the 
ground of which that pardon is in any case issued, is 
emphatically his. No doubt the Father did not live 
nor die for sinners ; but he who did so was his only- 
begotten and well-beloved Son ; he sent that Son ; 
he anointed and qualified him ; he raised him from 
the dead, and exalted him to honour and power ; to 
him the righteousness of the Mediator was offered, 
and he accepted of it ; — therefore, from henceforth he 
is the sovereign proprietor thereof, to do with it ' as 

* Job XV. U. t Ps. s'lv. 3. J Isa. Ixiv. 6. 



104 THE HIDING PLACE. 

it seemeth good in his sight.' It is for these reasons 
that the righteousness of the Son is so often called 
by the apostle ' the righteousness of God.' The Son 
gave it to the Father, from love to his glory ; the 
Substitute gave it to the Lawgiver, from love to the 
law ; and the Lawgiver gives it to the sinner, from 
love to the Son, and those for whom that Son 
atoned ; — which proves that he has the will^ as well 
as the right to do so. One may have a right, 
and be indisposed to avail himself of it. It is 
not so in this case : God is ' not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repen- 
tance.' Indeed, if he had not had the will, he 
never would have so arranged as that he should 
have the right to pardon. It is because he loved 
and pitied sinners, that he provided such a righteous- 
ness for them— that righteousness being alike God's 
title to give, and the sinner's title to ask pardon. 
Let us never entertain a doubt of God's willingness 
to be ^ the justifier of him which belie veth in Jesus.' 
To secure this blessing in harmony with his own 
attributes, he has done everything which it was required 
should be done ; and more convincing proof than this 
cannot be led of the profound regard he bears to our 
best interests. Many beheve in his ability to save, 
but fear concerning his ivillingness. Let them 
remember that but for his wilHngness, he never 
should have been able. It is love, not power, that is 
the source of human redemption ; so that if we can 



JEHOYAH-TSIDKENU. 105 

trust God's heart, we need not fear his hand. Farther, 
having the right and the will, he has also the abilitif : 
' He is mighty to save.' One may have the two 
former, and lack the latter; but Jesus has \\\q power: . 
' He is able to keep that which is committed to him 
against that day.' He knows no adversary now who 
can successfully oppose him in his merciful intentions 
upon any sinner. The world, the devil, and the flesh 
may all withstand the order, and fight to keep on the 
filthy garments; but whenever he wishes them off, 
they fall, one after the other, till not one rag is left. 
How, or by what agent this is done, will be adverted 
to afterwards. Meanwhile it is enough to state, that 
neither in the condition of the sinner himself — he 
may be a Manasseh, or a thief, or a Saul of Tarsus, — 
nor in the nature of God, or of God's government, 
nor in the hostility of any evil principality whatever, 
does there exist one solitary element of what could 
successfully resist his will in this business of everlasting 
love. And all this, because he has the purpose to 
save. The denuding of the sinner of his ^ filthy gar- 
ments,' and his being arrayed in ^the garments of 
salvation,' are decreed — decreed in those councils of 
peace which were held from eternity, and every one 
of which must and shall be carried into effect ; hence 
that magnificent hosannah of Paul : ^ Blessed be the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath 
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
places in Christ ; according as he hath chosen us in ' 



106 THE HIDING PLACE. 

him before the foundation of the world, that we 
should be holy and without blame before him in love : 
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children 
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good 
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his 
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the 
Beloved.' 

(2.) In executing this order to 'take away the 
filthy garments,' how does God proceed ? Is it with 
or against the will of the sinner ? It is unquestion- 
ably with his will. David long ago prophesied : 
* The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of 
Zion ; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy 
people shall be willing in the day of thy power;' 
and while the apostle admits to the PhiHppians that 
^fear and trembling' ought to be mixed up with the 
working out of their salvation, he explicitly states 
that ^ it is God which worketh in them both to will 
and to do of his good pleasure.' This willingness has 
of course a general reference to the whole energy and 
life of faith in the christian ; but it is also true of 
every particular period or act of that life. Its beautiful 
pliability is never seen to better advantage than in 
the first stripping that goes on, when the prodigal, in 
penitence, hies him home to his father. Having 
embraced him in the arms of reconciling love, the 
order is given, ' Take away his filthy garments,' and 
that order is instantly obeyed. By the opening of liis 
eyes to see that his own clothing is not the gorgeous 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 107 

or comely apparel that he fancied ; that in fact he is 
covered with rags — mth filthy rags — and these even 
not concealing his nakedness, he himself is in haste to 
cast them away, saying, ' I have heard of thee by the 
hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee : 
wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
ashes.' His proper senses are now restored to him, 
and hence he is offended with the stench, shivers from 
the scantiness, and is ashamed of the exposure of such 
filthy habiliments. He therefore readily yields him- 
self up to this process of disrobing, for ever renounces 
all complacency in himself, and gratefully submits to 
be washed in the fountain, and clothed anew from the 
gracious wardrobe of his pitying and generous parent. 
To drop the figure : having been convinced by the 
truth as it is in Jesus, that righteousness of his own 
he has none, and that the things which he thought 
meritorious are utterly repudiated as such, in the 
estimate of that God with whom he has to do, he 
renounces at once and for ever all dependence on 
them for salvation, and forthwith ^ submits himself to 
the righteousness of God,' setting to his seal that 
^Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth.' Now what is chiefly to be 
noticed here, is the divine action in the whole pro- 
cedure. Without such action or interference, this 
revolution in mind and conduct could never have 
taken place. Filthy as his own works are, man thinks 
most overweeningly of them, and would never con- 



108 THE HIDING PLACE. 

sent to brand them with disgrace; and perfect as 
Christ's righteousness is, he despises to take mercy 
solely for its sake. So soon, however, as the Father 
takes in hand to reverse these opinions, behold they 
are reversed ; the sinner falls down and confesses his 
personal demerits, and when he rises, it is that he 
may be arrayed in the ^best robe.' After this he 
glories only in Christ, and in him crucified. In a 
moment of weakness — (for self-conceit rarely alto- 
gether departs) — he may be seen taking a look to the 
old rags he formerly wore, or to the works he once 
considered meritorious; but one sight is enough to 
turn his look upward again to the Saviour. From 
this brief weakness his abhorrence of seZ/" has acquired 
strength, and his grasp of the cross is firmer. Hence- 
forth the burden of his song is, ' Not unto us, O 
Lord, not unto us ; but unto thy name give glory, for 
thy mercy and thy truth's sake.' 

(3.) Having given the order, and the order being 
obeyed, ' take away the filthy garments from him,' 
the next step in the process of a sinner's justification 
through the righteousness of Christ, is his becoming 
personally interested in that righteousness. Till he 
put off his own, Christ's could not be put on. The 
old raiment and the new could not assort well 
together ; rags and silk cannot be adjusted ; holiness 
and sin cannot herd together. No sooner, however, 
does God convince him of his spiritual destitution and 
nakedness, than he immediately performs his engage- 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 109 

ment — ' I will clothe thee with change of raiment ; 
which, without figure, means that he will put down 
to his account the obedience and sufferings of his 
Surety, and forthwith deal with him as if Christ's 
life had been led, and as if Christ's death had been 
suffered by the sinner himself. This means, that 
when what Christ did as a mediator is reckoned to 
me, I am dealt with precisely as if I had done it all 
myself. I, a poor naked wretch, get the love, the 
approbation^ the honour, and the blessing of the ever- 
lasting Father, just as substantially and surely as his 
own Son now gets them ; and yet I am kept humble ; 
for it is not irne^ the sinner, that God regards, but 
Jesus his anointed, or the righteousness of that Jesus 
which is now covering me. God ^ beholds my shield, 
and looks upon the face of his anointed.' This helps 
to explain Paul's marvellous exclamation : ^ I am 
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not i, 
hut Christ liveth in nie : and the life which I now live 
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
who loved me and gave himself for me.' Hence also 
the beautiful words of Justyn Martyr, in his epistle 
to Diognetus : ^ God gave his Son a ransom for us ; 
the Holy One for the transgressors, the innocent for the 
wicked, the righteous for the unrighteous, the incor- 
ruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the 
mortal. For what else could cover om- sins but his 
righteousness ? In whom could we, transgressors and 
ungodly, be justified but only in the Son of God? 



110 THE HIDING PLACE. 

O sweet exchange ! — O unsearchable contrivance I 
that the transgressions of mariT/ should be hidden 
in one righteous person, and the righteousness of 
one should justify many transgressors ! ' It thus 
appears that the pardoned sinner's ' change of rai- 
ment^ is just Chrisfs righteousness put upon him; 
or, in the strong but comprehensive language of the 
theologian, imputed to him. The doctrine of the 
imputation of mediatorial righteousness to the sinner, 
is an essential one. Many have crude, and not a few 
have no ideas at all upon the subject. Let us ex- 
plain it : — 

(4.) There are some passages of scripture which 
throw light upon what has been most properly called 
^ Chrisfs imputed nghteousnessJ The first is in 
Psalm xxxii. 2 : ^ Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord imputeth not iniquity.' The meaning of this is, 
that he only can be regarded the happy man whose 
sins are never to be charged against hini, either in 
this or in the world to come ; these sins are not put 
down against him — not reckoned to his account ; for 
they are all ^blotted out, that is, forgiven. The 
apostle quotes this text in the third chapter of the 
Romans, in close connection with his argument that 
our salvation comes not from our own, but from the 
righteousness of Christ; hence we fairly infer, that 
the words of David, though forming a negative, are 
to be understood as containing an affirmative, viz., 
that the man is blessed whose sins are not imputed to, 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. Ill 

or charged against him, because of the righteousness of 
Christ, which is now imputed or placed to his account 
in the book of God's remembrance. ^ The forgiveness 
of sins/ says one, ^ is surely not a human fancy or 
a human action, in which a man says to himself, " I 
have forgiveness of my sins;" but a divine work, a 
living word of God spoken into the heart, which faith 
alone can appropriate. But the word and act of God 
is the most positive thing that we can conceive ; it is 
being itself, on which account Luther most right- 
eously terms the forgiveness of sins, ** life and blessed- 
ness," for it contains within itself the imputation of the 
righteousness of God.^* Again, it is said by the 
apostle that this righteousness of God, which is by 
faith of Jesus Christ, is ^ unto all, and upon all them 
that believe.^ Without adverting to the different 
readings of this expression, it may be used here as 
indicating how the sinner is held as righteous before 
God. God's own righteousness being ^upon^ him, 
that is, given away to him, and he to be regarded by 
divine law and justice as ever afterwards free from all 
their demands, if law meets him, and requests pay- 
ment, it is now to regard him as solvent, because of 
the righteousness of God which it sees him wear and 
hears him plead: and if justice wax bold, and draw 
its sword, it is now to remember that he has suffered 
already all that is due in the person of his Surety. 
'In these words, "unto all, and upon all,'" says 

* Olshausen in loco. 



112 THE HIDING PLACE. 

Olshausen, ' we may observe not merely a heaping of 
synonymes, but a climax; the image of a flood of 
grace seems to be at the foundation of this expression ; 
a flood which penetrates to all, and streams over all.' 
And again, when writing to Philemon concerning his 
runaway slave, the apostle says, ^ If he hath wronged 
thee, or oweth thee Siught, put that on mine account:^ 
which means, ^ the debt originally and really is that 
of Onesimus, but I charge myself with it, and bind 
myself to pay it; therefore, impute it to me — put it 
down to my account.' It is precisely in the same way 
that our Substitute says to God : ^ The sins for which 
I obey, and sufier, and die, are not originally or really 
my sins, but I am willing to be treated as if they 
were such — impute them to me, or put them to my 
account.' And as it is strongly implied in Paul's 
language to Philemon that his payment of the slave's 
debt was to be reckoned to the slave as if he himself 
had settled it, so it is here the sinner is to be held as 
having done all that God required of him, solely on 
the ground of Christ having actually done so. There 
is here, therefore, a twofold imputation. Sin is im- 
puted to Christ, and righteousness is imputed to the 
sinner ; in neither case is the thing imputed the per- 
sonal acquisition of the party ; the sin is not Christ's 
own, and the righteousness is not the sinner's own ; 
but the exchange made in the covenant of grace 
secures that the innocent Saviour be treated as guilty, 
and that the guilty sinner be treated as innocent. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 113 

We are now in the veiy midst of mystery ; but 
though much darkness resteth upon these economic 
arrangements, a light — a clear and heartsome light — 
falls upon them from the scriptures quoted above. 
Is it not enough to re-assure us in the faithfulness 
and mercy of God, that t\\e work of our Surety was 
so intrinsically and infinitely good, as that on its 
account the chief of sinners, in one moment, may be 
held and treated as the chief of saints? Yes, O 
inquirer after God, be satisfied upon this point — 
imputation is now possible; in truth, it is the onli/ 
thing God can do with the righteousness of his beloved 
Son. If he do not impute it to others, it lies useless 
beside him ; its acquirement on Christ's part was a 
piece of gratuitous and extravagant waste, and its 
injunction and acceptance on God's part was little 
else than a cruel ceremony. But away with these 
conjectures, almost bordering upon profanity ! It can 
he done ! God in all the beauties of his hoHness 
can do it — and it delights him thus to dispense it to 
all who will take it. We can conceive of nothing so 
sublime as this resignation of his own righteousness 
by the Eedeemer into the hands of his Father, unless 
it be that Father's free imputation or distribution of 
it amongst the guilty sons of men. How ecstatic the 
joy of the Son when he re-appeared before his 
Father's throne, carrying with him such a load of 
mediatorial excellence, for which personally he had 
no use, but which he had gathered together during 



114 THE HIDING PLACE. 

a life of sorrow and suffering far away among the 
dismal and accursed regions of sin, in order that the 
yearnings of that Father's heart might flow outwards 
harmoniously with the purity and integrity of his 
character, to pardon the transgressors ! The fellow 
of this joy must be understood to be that of the Father 
himself, in thus having it in his power to gratify his 
boundless, endless mercy, by saving lost sinners, and 
bringing them back to his bosom and his blessing, the 
travail of his Son's soul, and the emblems of his own 
unparalleled love. 

(5.) And wJio is it that thus imputes ? ' Twill clothe 
thee,^ saith God the Father. He is the Judge, and in 
that character he it is that either pardons or punishes : 
' It is God that justifieth.' There is only one class 
of scriptures that seems to oppose this idea, and to 
trace justification to the sinner's faith. It is said of 
Abraham's faith, that it was ' counted (or imputed) 
to him for righteousness.' But this and parallel texts 
must be interpreted not by themselves, but in con- 
nection with others. It is elsewhere said that we 
* are justified by faith;' but in this, and in the other, 
and in all similar passages, we are to view faith not 
as the thing imputed^ but as the wai/ or means to 
that thing which is the righteousness of God. Dr 
Chalmers puts this in his usual terse and forcible 
style : ' Beware of having any such view of faith as 
will lead you to annex to it the kind of merit, or of 
claim, or of glorying under the gospel which are 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 115 

annexed to works under the law. This, in fact, were 
just animating with a legal spirit the whole phraseo- 
logy and doctrine of the gospel. It is God who 
justifies. He drew up the title-deed, and he bestowed 
the title-deed. It is ours simply to lay hold of it.' 
On God's part, this imputation is certainly an act of 
free grace. He may or he may not do it, for any claim 
the sinner can present. It only assumes the mysterious 
position of a necessity, when Christ himself prays the 
Father for it— that is to say, it is for Christ's sake 
alone that even the righteousness of God is put down 
to any sinner's account. No doubt this imputation 
is associated with faith ; it is founded; in other words, 
in union to Christ himself. The branch has sap, 
and blossom, and fruit, because it is in the tree. 
The members of the body have life and action, 
because they are connected with the head ; and sinners 
are quickened and pardoned, because they are in the 
Surety. But as branches in him, ' the vine,' they are 
grafted in by God, the ^ husbandman,^ Thus, imputa- 
tion is therefore ' the consequence of the legal relation 
which was established between him and them in the 
covenant of grace, by which he was constituted their 
Surety, and his acts in this character were made 
referable to them. His righteousness thus became 
imputable to them ; and it is actually imputed when 
a real union is formed between them by the Spirit 
and by faith.' * 

* Dr Dick. 



116 THE HIDING PLACE* 

(6.) This important act is performed instantaneously 
with conversion. It is easy to make a distinction 
between regeneration and justification ; but to the 
simple investigator of truth, it will suffice to notice 
that, as it is when the infant is born that the first 
inspiration of the lungs is drawn, so it is w^hen the 
sinner is born again that he is ^in Christ Jesus;' 
when in Christ Jesus ^ there is no more condemna- 
tion ;' and when there is no more condemnation, it 
must be because the act of pardon is passed ; and that 
act is only passed when the righteousness of Christ 
is imputed. This imputation is coeval with regenera- 
tion. When we begin to live anew, we are justified; 
and when w^e are justified, we begin to live. Up 
to the moment of this union, then, even the saints to 
be, are under the wrath and curse of God. Hence 
we argue that one cannot be too soon at the work of 
faith and repentance ; and in order to these, we 
cannot be one moment too soon before the tribunal of 
divine justice pleading the righteousness of Christ, 
as that alone which entitles the most abject sinner 
to the most precious blessings of heaven. 

(7.) In one word, the whole transaction^ of making 
men the better of what Christ did for them, is to be 
ascribed to the ^ Holy Spirit of God.' This is indeed 
his peculiar work in the economy of grace. He 
descends with the title in his hand, and gives it to 
the sinner in the day in which he effectually calls 
him. He hears the will of the Father, ^ Bring forth 



JEHO V AH-TSIDKENU. 117 

the best robe, and put it on him/ and instantly the robe 
is adjusted to the believer's person; in that moment he 
is forgiven, because in that moment the Holy Ghost 
' covers him with the robe of righteousness.' All this 
being the doing of the Spirit, it is work that must 
stand. A garment woven by the life, and love, and 
blood, and death of the Son of God, and put on by 
the hands of Him who garnished the heavens, must 
be imperishable. The clothes of the Hebrews never 
wore done, while they wandered about in that waste 
howling wilderness; but they disappeared at length 
with them that wore them. The ^best robe' has 
another and higher destiny. It shall be worn for 
ever; for Christ's righteousness ^is an everlasting 
righteousness.' Angels lost their innocence, and 
were cast into hell. Adam lost his, and fell under 
the curse. But this is the ^best robe,' for it is 
imperishable. The possessor of it shall never again 
come under condemnation. It is alike his security 
for the past, the present, and the future; for the 
past, that his sins shall never rise up against him ; 
for the present, that its peculiar temptations shall not 
have prevalence over him ; and for the future, that 
he shall hold on his way rejoicing, and shall shine at 
length as the stars in the firmament for ever and 
ever. 



CHAPTER YII. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU : THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 



PART III. 



Put ye on the Lord Jesus.' 

Rom. xiii. 14. 



It now remains that we examine — 

III. The *Human action upon Justifying 
Righteousness. Co-operation is a law in God's 
house. It is a gross abuse of the doctrine of free 
grace to infer from it, that because of ourselves we can 
do nothing in the way of meriting mercy, therefore 
we must be absolutely inactive in the whole process. 
This is that heresy called Antinomianism, which 
strikes at the root of practical Christianity, and turns 
' the grace of God into lasciviousness ; ' or it is that 
fanatical delusion which has seized upon those who 
imagine that the}'- are to lie passive in God's hands, 
and never put forth a single effort in the matter of their 
own salvation. Paul's argument in reference to both 
errors is unanswerable. In his epistle to the Romans, 



JEHO VAH-TSIDKENU. 119 

he clearly shows that the gospel establisJies, but can- 
not make void the law ; and in many passages of his 
writings, he indicates most distinctly that there is a 
very close connection between the divine and human 
agency in the sinner's salvation, and that so far from 
co-operation on his part being either absurd or im- 
pious, it is a most important, yea, a bounden duty, 
the neglect of which makes salvation impossible. 
The explanation as to how the whole process is a 
work of God, and yet that the sinner himself must in 
some way have action in it, we do not attempt, nor 
ought it ever to be attempted. This is certainly one 
of God's ^secret things' with which we ought not to 
intermeddle. The speculative christian has sustained 
very often serious damage to his comfort in religion, 
by seeking in this to be ^ wise above what is written.' 
Betwixt divine sovereignty in conversion, and human 
consent thereto, ^ there is a great gulf fixed,' so 
that they who would pass from the one to the other, 
cannot. It is enough for all the purposes of mercy, 
that we give to God himself the glory of originating 
and carrying forward a work of grace in the soul, and 
that, at the same time, we consider it to be our duty, 
^whatsoever our hand findeth to do, to do it with 
our might ;' yea, to ^ strive to enter in at the strait 
gate ;' to ^ work out our own salvation with fear and 
trembling;' and to ^ give diligence to make our 
calling and election sure.' In harmony with this 
view are aU those scriptures which make it appear as 



i 



120 THE HIDING PLACE. 

if our salvation depended upon our own repentance, 
faith, and love : ^ Unless ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish;' ^He that believeth shall be saved ; he that 
believeth not shall be damned ;' ^ If any man love not 
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran- 
atha,' There is another set of Bible proofs that throw 
the co-operation of the sinner into the form of obedi- 
ence to a law : * Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die V 
' Look unto me ;' ' This is his commandment, that we 
should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ ;' 
^ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father v/ho is 
in heaven is perfect;' ^Put ye on the Lord Jesus 
Christ ;' ' Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' And there is 
a third class of texts in which sinftd men are repre- 
sented as claiming for themselves a share in the work 
^.of their restoration to the pardon and image of God : 
' I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be 
praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies ;' ' I 
will w^ash mine hands in innocency ;' ^ I will go and 
return to my first husband ; for then it was better with 
me than now ;' ' Come, let us return unto the Lord ;' 
' I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto 
him. Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before 
thee ;' ' Ye see now how that by works a man is 
justified, and not by faith only.' A simple rule in 
biblical criticism harmonises these apparently con- 
tradictory passages, viz., that the Word of God must 
be interpreted in accordance with its own great first 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKEXU. 121 

principles, and that whatever seemeth to differ from 
these must be explained as agreeing thereto. The 
application of this rule to the subject before our 
minds, brings it out clear of difficulties. It is a prin- 
ciple in Christianity, that man cannot justify him- 
self—that this cometh of ^the Lord our righteous- 
ness;' and it is a law of Christianity, that he must 
accept of this righteousness, or believe in it, other- 
wise he hath no part or lot therein. In correspon- 
dence with this principle, scripture proclaims that 
God alone can ^ forgive sins,' and that God alone can 
create within man a believing heart; and equally 
corresponding with this law, scripture contemplates 
man as under obhgation to repent, believe, and obey, 
while no scripture whatever, that seems to give to 
this obedience, faith, and contrition, the credit of the 
pardon that accompanies them, can be literally, but 
must be subordinately explained. With regard to the 
human action upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 
this, becomes both intelligible and interesting. In 
the preparation of that righteousness, we certainly 
had no part, neither can we take any credit in its 
being imputed to us by the Judge ; and yet there 
is nothing more evident, than that if we are not 
actually using it for the purpose for which it was 
wrought out, we receive no advantage from it. In 
one view, God himself puts it on ; and in another view, 
we must also ' put it on,' and when wearing it, must 
' make mention of it, and of it only.' The meaning of 



122 THE HIDING PLACE. 

this is plain. While believing that God is thus ' the 
author and finisher of our faith/ we must put into 
exercise our own minds upon the grand subject of the 
salvation purchased by Christ; that is, we must, as 
reasonable beings, assent to the plan of justification 
through the righteousness of another, and that other 
our divine Surety, as being the best, the only, the 
sufficient plan ; and thus assenting, we must, as sin- 
ful beings, trust in that righteousness as our own, 
making it ever and exclusively the basis of all our 
intercourse with God, and of all our hopes of mercy 
and of life. Human action, then, in this direction, 
may assume one or other of the following forms : — 

(1.) A grateful appreciation of the merits of Chris fs 
righteousness. If we do not know its value, we will 
not use it ; and if we do not use it, we perish. It was 
wrought out that we might offer it to God in lieu of 
our own, which we had lost, and as our only title to 
his forgiveness. But, if there be ignorance of its 
divine suitableness to our guilty and condemned 
state, and of its sole and perfect sufficiency to meet 
and satisfy all demands upon us, then we continue 
under the curse, and have no claim upon one particle 
of the divine clemency. It is far otherwise with him 
who ^ puts it on.' He has had his eyes opened to see 
his own nakedness, together with the exquisite fitness 
of this ^best robe' to his whole person, of heart, 
soul, mind, and strength. The holiness of Christ's 
life is to him the ^perfection of beauty;' and the 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKEN C. 123 

mysterious richness of Christ's death is to him ^ the 
all and in all' of a finished atonement; hence his 
declaration, ^ in the Lord alone I have righteousness.' 
(2.) A sincere depreciation of our own righteousness. 
We must say of fancied personal merit as Job did of 
life, ^ I loathe it.' It is neither natural nor reasonable 
for the sickly beggar to cherish his ' putrifying sores,' 
or boast of his ^ filthy rags.' While hopeless of cure 
and of decent clothing, he may settle down with these 
in fatuous contentment; but give him the hope of 
the soothing draught and mollifying ointment, and let 
him only have within his offer and his reach a decent 
and comfortable dress, and he will manifest his in- 
terest by casting off his old raiment and appropriating 
the new ; with these he will hie him with all possible 
speed to the nearest pool, where he may wash and 
make himself clean, and to the nearest firiend, who 
may teach him the way to mix the anodyne and 
adjust the garments. And so it is with the serious 
penitent. Once he gloried in himself. He thought 
well of everything he did, and even considered that 
he laid God under obligations. He professed, as he 
thought, correct sentiments, and cultivated amiable 
dispositions. He abandoned certam sins in which he 
once loved to indulge, and began the practice of 
certain virtues, which he formerly disliked. He 
conformed in his religious connections to the ritual of 
the church ; conducted himself with every regard to 
decency and honesty in his places in society, and 



124 ' THE HIDING PLACE. 

went all proper lengths in charitable donations for 
the poor and the needy. He thus concluded, that 
upon these good works he had established a claim on 
the forbearance and mercy of the Almighty, and 
went about his secret and public devotions, making 
mention of his own righteousness, even of it only. 
Upon the enlightening of his eyes, however, by the 
Holy Ghost, all these things are seen in their true 
colours, and he immediately hastens to disrobe and 
cast away the garish livery of the Pharisee. He 
sees the filth of natural depravity in which all his 
imagined moral worth lies embedded, and the thorns 
and thistles of actual transgression, where he ever 
thought grew the roses and lilies of obedience. In 
his best emotions, he is conscious of selfishness ; in 
his finest displays of a correct life, he marks their 
infinite distance from the high standard of the divine 
law ; vanity and self-conceit he observes cowering 
down among the most winning and amiable of his 
affections, setting them on to beneficence, guiding 
them in the choice of objects, and receiving to them- 
selves the complacent homage of the blessings of the 
destitute ; — while, unbroken by a solitary exception, 
he can review the whole festivals of his piety as 
occasions rather for the gratification of his spiritual 
pride, than for the worship of God, or the good of his 
soul : ^ Wherefore he abhors himself, and repents in 
dust and ashes.' By one act of self-depreciation he 
pulls down the fabric of a lifetime, scatters the hopes 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 125 

of all the past to the wind, and with his whole soul 
he regards the righteousness of his Surety as ^ all his 
salvation, and all his desire.' There is now no 
resistance on his part to empty himself, that he may 
be filled with all the fulness that is in Christ; and 
no contending with the influence of heaven, to ' put 
off, concerning the former conversation, the old man 
which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts,' and 
to ^ put on the new man, which after God is created 
in' righteousness and true holiness.' 

(3.) A perpetual reference to Christ s onghteousness 
as the procuring cause of every blessing. It is not 
merely for the cancelling of his guilt at the first, nor 
for his title to ' eternal life ' after death, that he 
values the worth of his Lord, but for every temporal 
and spiritual comfort in the meantime enjoyed. He 
is not ashamed to take even his cup of cold water, his 
morsel of bread, and his lowliest earthly benefit, on 
the ground of Christ's righteousness — which, indeed, 
is the true way of regarding all our mercies. Every 
breath w^e draw, every smile of love we enjoy, every 
domestic blessing, every farthing of property, every 
bound of a healthy constitution, and every tie of life 
that makes existence sw^eet, we ought to view as 
coming through the mediatorial sacrifice. It is all 
FOR Christ's sake ! — and this idea in the believer's 
mind throws a cheerful light on all the gifts and 
dispensations of God, and raises a spirit of gratitude 
within the bosom of every sanctified affection. The 



126 THE HIDING PLACE. 

natural man may look with proud complacency on 
his gains, and boast of them as the reward of his own 
talents and enterprise ; but still he feels that there is 
more of brag than truth in his protestations of satis- 
faction. To the believer, on the other hand, there 
is nothing half so sweet as the conviction, that all he 
has done and has received, he owes to his Redeemer's 
mediation. This with poverty, is to him wealth 
enough, and riches without this, would make him feel 
^poor indeed.' In no point of view, perhaps, does 
christian Faith appear so beautiful and godlike as 
when she thus uses the righteousness of her Lord. 
To it, no doubt, she clings for pardon and accept- 
ance ; but to it, also, she leans for the mercy of 
every breath, of every sunshine, and of every hope. 
There is no difference between her plea for justifica- 
tion and that which she urges for daily nourishment ; 
she calculates on the divine patience and forbearance 
upon no minor title to that which she presented when 
first rescued from the wrath of the Almighty ; and ever 
as she fights her way and endures her trials, is she con- 
fident that her fervent prayers shall be heard only for 
Christ's sake. Whatever successes, indeed, attend the 
christian in the cultivation of spirituality, he never 
sets down any one of them to his own merits. On 
the contrary, the more of love, or hope, or heavenly- 
mindedness he can practise, the more does he feel 
his obligations to the grace of the Saviour. This 
reveals that otherwise mvsterious feature of sanctified 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 127 

character — progress in piety and deepening humility 
going hand in hand, and never dwelling apart. He 
may say upon an occasion, ^ I live ;' but he immediately 
adds, * yet, not I ; Christ liveth in me/ 

(4.) TJie prompt and pious use of Christ 8 righteous- 
ness on special occasions. Does the believer pray'^ 
He remembers, as he kneels, that it is a privilege, not 
a right. We should never presume to speak to God 
except when we have Christ clearly in our view. As 
there was a daily sacrifice under the law, so ought there 
to be under the gospel ; not that Christ is to be every 
day sacrificed anew, but that in every devout approach 
to God, faith should first of all offer his sacrifice to 
the Holy One ; and this is done by the inward per- 
suasion that Christ died for us, and by the actual 
appeal for mercy being made on this account. It is 
this idea, when sincerely entertained, that gives effi- 
cacy to the clause with which most prayers conclude, 
^for Christ^ s sake^ Does tlie christian fall into sin ? 
He remembers his Lord's righteousness, and while 
repenting of his conduct, he loses not his hope. He 
assiu?es himself, that as his justification did not depend 
upon his personal condition, so neither can his sancti- 
fication be arrested, nor his safety endangered by his 
numerous infirmities. As he urged Christ upon the 
law when he sought its forgiveness, so he urges him 
still ; and the plea that won the case at first, secures 
his best interests to the last. Does the christian fall 
into heavy trials? He remembers the righteousness 



128 THE HIDING PLACE. 

of Christ, and consoles himself that none of these 
can be the expression of a vindictive purpose, seeing 
that God cannot be angry with him, now that he 
is Hiid with Christ,' and that therefore all of these 
must be the salutary discipline of an affectionate 
parent, who ^oves whom he chastens, and scourges 
every son and daughter whom he receives.' Does 
the christian sustain the loss of all things f He re- 
members the righteousness of Christ, and is con- 
tented. All earthly treasures maj^ have fled, but this 
^ pearl of great price' remains; these would have 
gone at any rate, and have only left him a little 
sooner than he expected: but this is his dearest pro- 
perty, and with it he knows himself to be secure of 
all needed supplies, even to the hour of death ; hence 
the losses and crosses of this life only work in him 
' patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, 
hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed.' Does the 
christian dief He remembers the righteousness of 
Christ, and is assured tlasit all is well. Even he would 
now be the victim of remorse, if he judged himself by 
his own godly life, or by any capacity of his own, 
adequately to make ready for the impending and 
awfiil future. His hopes could gather no strength 
from the memory of his privileges, his frames, his 
sacrifices, his experiences. If he looked back to his 
closet, he would be met by the ghosts of ten thousand 
callous prayers; if he revisited the sanctuary, he 
would be rebuked by the consciousness of innumer- 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 129 

able imperfect services and unliallowed Sabbaths ; if 
he reviewed his walk and conversation in the world, 
he would be silenced by the resurrection of many 
forgotten conformities to its spirit and its fashions ; if 
he recounted his alms, and analysed his zeal, he 
would hide his head before the spectres of his vain 
and self-righteous motives ; and if he finally resorted 
to his days and nights of bitter repentance, to his 
sweetest seasons of holy communion, and to any or 
to all of the gracious manifestations which were made 
to his soul, with every one of these would be associated 
the memory of wandering thoughts, fickle resolu- 
tions, and unfulfilled vows ; and thus they would all 
fail to afford him consolation. No, no. His dying 
look is the very same with his living look — 'unto 
Jesus ;' his dying grasp is the same with his living 
one — the cross ; his dying trust is the same with his 
living one — the finished work of Christ; and his 
d}ing cry is the same with his Hving testimony — ' in 
the Lord alone I have righteousness.' Thus, living 
or dying, Christ and him crucified is all his con- 
fidence, and all his boast ; hence he dies both happily 
and safely, saying, ' I know whom I have believed, 
and that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
mitted to him against that day.' Is the christian to 
rise again from the dead? Then also he will re- 
member the righteousness of Christ ; and while others 
are calling upon the rocks and the mountains to ^fall 
on them, and hide them from the face of him that 



130 THE HIDING PLACE. 

sitteth on tlie throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath is come, and 
who shall be able to stand V — he will calmly approach 
the dread tribunal, and placing before the Judge his 
own righteousness^ will confidently claim from him the 
promised crown of life. That claim will be honoured 
— that saint will be acquitted — that crown will be 
given. O wondrous righteousness, that thus in one 
moment celebrates the deliverance of the saint from 
the last consequence of sin, and his august coronation 
as one of God's kings and priests ! Is the christian to 
live for ever f He will never forget the righteousness 
of Christ ; that it is to it he owes his exaltation, and 
that still, and ever onward through endless ages, his 
obligations shall be the same. Hence the burden of 
the songs of eternity can never be changed, but must 
ever be, ' Thou art worthy to take the book, and to 
open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people, and nation : and hast 
made us unto our God kings and priests : and we 
shall reign on the earth.' 

(5.) The cheerful proclamation of Christ s righteous- 
ness before all the world. *I will make mention of 
thy righteousness, even of thine only.' This thing 
^was not done in a comer,' neither is the chris- 
tian's approbation of it silent or hidden. He goes 
up to the house-top with it; he goes into the high- 
ways and byways with it ; he wears it in the palace. 



JEHOVAH-TSIDItENU. 131 

as well as in the cot, and testifies to its exclusive 
worth before the chair of the scorner, as well as in the 
assembly of the saints. ^It is the glory of God to con- 
ceal a thing,' but it is the glory of the christian to 
publish his confidence in the righteousness of Jesus. 
He cannot be ashamed of it, for he feels that he owes 
everything to it — priceless pardon, spotless purity, 
present peace, and the good hope of eternal life. 
Ashamed of himself and of his filthy rags he is ; and 
if he were commanded to appear in them, he would 
seek some solitude of nature wherein to hide ; but of 
Jesus he is not, and cannot be ashamed. Eeceiving 
the mercy of God through th^it Saviour, and rushing 
forthwith into the world a converted and forgiven 
man, he exclaims, ' God forbid that I should glory, 
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!' He 
feels that ' necessity is laid upon him,' and that he 
cannot ^but speak of the things he has seen and 
heard.' Men may laugh at him ; friends may desert 
him; tyrants may denounce him; martyrdom may 
be before him ; he heeds them not ; — always and 
everywhere must he publish the matchless work of 
redeeming blood ! It is under this sense of personal 
obligation, that he takes a deep interest in the spread 
of the gospel at home and abroad. Contemplating 
the race to which he belongs, as all equally guilty and 
condemned with himself; knowing that it was owing 
to no merit of his own that to him ' the word of this 
salvation was sent,' but purely owing to the free 



132 THE HIDING PLACE. 

grace of God ; and believing that the mediatorial 
sacrifice is as precious to mankind at large as it lias 
been to him, and that all men are as welcome to an 
interest in it as he was, he lifts up his voice and 
weeps for ' the slain of the daughter of his people ;' 
but all his zeal is not absorbed in sympathy — he 
takes action — he does all he can by personal example, 
and all he can to send and support others who are 
willing to go far hence among the Gentiles, to 
proclaim among them the ' unsearchable riches of 
Christ.' 

And herein lies the secret of missionary zeal. No 
wonder that millions of professing christians do so 
little for the conversion of sinners. They are, after all, 
themselves destitute of personal interest in the justify- 
ing righteousness of the Redeemer. And no wonder 
that there are multitudes of genuine believers who are 
glad that the burden of bringing back a lost world to 
God devolves upon them; for they have tasted the 
joys of pardon, and they live in the exercise of hope. 
Christ is precious to them; and to the souls for whom 
he died they long to tell the story of his wondrous love, 
saying, ^ Come hear, all ye that fear God, and I will 
declare what he hath done for my soul ;' or, looking 
over the walls of Zion, and comprehending the world 
lying in wickedness, they shout with an exceeding 
loud voice, that the isles may hear, and that they 
that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth may 
know, that ^ God so loved the world, that he gave his 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 133 

only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life.' 

We cannot conclude this brief dissertation on the 
justifying righteousness of Christ, without an earnest 
and direct appeal to the reader who is still under 
the condemning sentence of the law. We ask him, 
why is it that you refuse to be pardoned? Why 
is it that you will not accept of this ' all-sufficient 
righteousness?' Why will you not come to Christ? 
Is it because of any fancied indifference on the 
Saviour's part, or of any severity exercised towards you 
which is not manifested towards others, or of any 
deficiency in the treasury of his righteousness, or of 
any imbecility in the spirit and power of his graciovis 
invitations ? Is it because he cannot, or, though able, 
will not save you ? It cannot be ; for none of these 
causes exist. The heart of Jehovah-Tsidkenu has 
never been indifferent to you, nor to any of the chil- 
dren of men. From eternity it glowed with love of 
unquenchable warmth. While on earth many waters 
could not quench it — not even the sorrows of hell, 
when they gat hold upon it. Coldness is an im- 
possibility within that region of love ' which passeth 
knowledge.' His heart is as a fire of love ; and at this 
moment it burns as intensely as ever, notwithstanding 
all your sins, and all your contemptuous opinions of 
it and of himself. Say not that this warmth is 
cherished only for saints, and that it is not, and 
cannot be felt for such as you, who continue his 



134 THE HIDING PLACE. 

enemies. He ^came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance.' And, as you shall hear in the 
follomng chapters, his visits as a physician are not 
to ^the whole, but to the sick.' It was sinners that 
he loved from everlasting. Sinner ! it is you that he 
loves still ; over you he still yearns ; over you — you, 
the doomed to destruction — he still weeps, as he wept 
over Jerusalem. Coldness ! — coldness in the heart of 
the Saviour towards you ! Perish the thought ! The 
coldness you should complain of lies only about the 
region of your own heart. Yes ; it is winter there — 
a wild and dreary winter too : the frost is keen, the 
ice is thick, the snow falls heavily, and every passage 
to your loyalty and your love is choked up with the 
gatherings of the long and severe storm of your most 
obstinate impenitence. O, torment not yourself with 
doubts anent the state of Jesus' heart towards you, 
but with thoughts anent the state of your own heart 
towards him ! It is all right with his ; would God it 
were all right with yours! But what a contrast 
between the two ! — are you not ashamed, are you not 
confounded with it ? His overflowing with love for 
you — yours charged with scorn for him ; his panting 
after your salvation — yours loathing his heavenly 
grace ; his yearning, yea, melting mth pity for you — 
yours steeling itself against all his entreaties; his 
bleeding to the very core — yours hard as the adamant: 
his at length cold and motionless, because he died out 
of love for you — yours alive and active, but only that 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 135 

it may scout his mercy and sear itself against the 
eloquence and pathos of his unutterable soitows. 
Reader, do you not perceive this contrast? What 
do you think of it ? How will it do for a study on 
your death-bed ? Ho"^ will it look when it is exhibited 
in the judgment before an assembled world ? How 
will it sound when its characteristics are read over in 
the hearing of the inflexible Judge ? And how will 
you feel, when the assembled nations shall join in 
hissing you into your place, because you dared to 
despise the grace of its sovereign Lord? Ah, 
infatuated man ! It will be his turn to grow cold 
then; and cold indeed must his heart be towards 
you. Not one single emotion of affection for you will 
then be found in that heart ; no, not one. As the 
inexorable Judge, he will banish you for ever from 
it and from his presence. It will be your turn to 
grow warm then ; to become awfully interested then 
in him, in yourself, in the future, and in eternity. But 
what will any warmth, any concern of yours, avail in 
such a position, and at such a crisis ? Nothing what- 
ever. It is too late now ; as you sowed in time, so 
now you shall reap ; you ^ sowed to the flesh,' and ' of 
the flesh you shall now reap corruption,' which is, 
misery and everlasting shame. 

There is something oppressively awful in the con- 
ception of our Redeemer contemplating masses of 
mankind sinners, without one single emotion of pity 
for them or their fate in that day. One feels a 



136 THE HIDING PLACE. 

difficulty in realising such a state of things in the 
heart of him who ' was made flesh and dwelt among 
us,' and ^who bore our griefs, and carried our sor- 
rows ; ' yea, whose love was so strong that it carried 
him through the mysterious arid agonising scenes of 
Gethsemane and Calvary ; it does violence to our 
usual modes of judging about the meek and lowly 
Jesus, to think of him at all in the character of the 
stern and inflexible judge. When we read the 
inspired story of his wonderful forbearance, and of 
his pitiful care of the pilgrim-man ; when we trace 
his providential vigilance, his amazing liberahty, 
his singularly pathetic contrivances to win that pil- 
grim's heart, and to guide him into the paths that lead 
to heaven ; when we muse on the revolutions of time, 
and on the vicissitudes of this mundane existence, 
taking into view the startling and momentous events 
of thousands of generations, and consider that all 
these are but parts of his ways for making everything 
work together for the good of his people ; and when 
we reflect that he ascended to, and sits upon his 
present throne, for the express purpose of governing 
the universe, upon principles that should subjugate 
everything and every one to the magnificent economy 
of mercy over which he exclusively presides ; when 
we dwell in thought on all this exquisitely-balanced 
system, and associate it all mth his character as our 
attached and sympathising High Priest, it is indeed 
ahke painful and bewildering to revolutionise the 



JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU. 137 

whole scene, and the whole character, and behold 
Jesus of Nazareth coming again to this world, but 
with a purpose, concerning millions of its inhabitants, 
the very opposite of that which moved him to come 
hither at the first. It may not be a pleasant, but it 
may be a profitable study, to read some of the gospel 
as it shall then be read. How think you, reader, 
shall it strike upon your ear, so famihar as it is at 
present with gospel sounds, to hear such passages as 
the following : — ' The Son of man comes not to save 
sinners, but that sinners through him may be con- 
demned.' ^ He comes to seek, but not to save 
sinners.' ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of 
all acceptation, that Jesus Christ comes into the world 
to turn the wicked into hell, and all the nations that 
have forgotten God.' ' As I live, saith the Lord, I 
have now no pleasure in your life, but rather that you 
should depart from me into everlasting fire.' ' Come 
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden with 
your guilt, and I will give you eternal destruction.' 
^ Depart from me ; I never knew you.' Terrible and 
appalling as are these transpositions of well-known 
gospel texts, you may rest assured, O guilty reader ! 
that if you appear at his bar impenitent and un- 
believing, you must be thus addressed, and you must 
be thus punished. You now listen with indifference to 
the gracious version of the gospel ; but you shall not 
so listen to the judicial edition of the Saviour's words 
on that eventful day. You then shall hear, ay, and 



138 THE HIDING PLACE. 

believe too; but your attention to, and faith in Christ 
then, can only issue in your inevitable condemnation. 
And all this is true ; it may be future, but it shall 
be all accomplished ; it may be in your present mood 
of thought only the language of well-intentioned 
terrorism, but you will know it then to be the just 
and the irresistible deliverance of Him whose authority 
is only to be resisted now, that it may be yielded to 
then, without an iota of that mercy which is its sure 
and infallible concomitant, when in this life his kind- 
ness is appreciated, and his gospel is believed. Yes, 
he permits you to have it all your own way at present ; 
but he will have it all his own way at last. You 
will then discover that Jesus on the judgment-seat 
is a very diflPerent person to deal with from Jesus 
on the cross. Toleration has had its day ; redeeming 
patience has run to its limit ; divine love has ceased 
to pity ; and divine authority must and shall be 
completely honoured. Do you think that your con- 
tempt of such a God, of such a Saviour, with his 
atoning sacrifice and all-sufficient righteousness, and 
of such a steady, stately plan of mercy, is to be 
permitted to last for ever, or for ever to go uncon- 
demned 1 You are in a deplorable mistake. It 
cannot be so, it ought not to be so — the honour of 
God, the glory of God's Son, the rights of God's 
people, the very safety of his throne, make it im- 
perative that he shall arise and tembly avenge his 
insulted majesty and his despised salvation. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI: THE LORD MY HEALER. 

PART I. 

*I am the Lord that healeth thei .' 

Exodus xv. 26. 

The justification or pardon of a sinner is the beginning, 
but by no means the entu'e of what is called his salva- 
tion. Before God can have friendly communion with 
him, he certainly, first of all, secures man's reconcilia- 
tion to divine law and justice by the death of his Son : 
but immediately on this, he proceeds with the behever's 
gradual sanctification. A sinner is both a guilty and 
an impure creature; and with a view to his living 
again with G od, he must be more than forgiven — he 
must be made perfectly holy ; and this result is cer- 
tain. Eemote though he be from it at the period of 
his conversion, he is certain to reach it, under the 
gracious training of the High Priest of his profession; 
^ for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to 
God by the death of his Son ; much more, being 



140 THE HIDING PLACE. 

reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.' In a word, 
whenever man is taken out of the cell in which, by 
law^, he has been imprisoned, and where he has been 
the victim also of spiritual disease, he is conveyed 
into the hospital of gracious means, to be treated by 
the Physician there, and dismissed only when per- 
fectly cm^ed. Sanctification is thus the unfaiHng 
consequence of justification ; so that if any man con- 
tinues to live in, and love sin, he gives proof that he 
is not a pardoned sinner; but if he 'cnicifies the 
flesh, with its affections and lusts,' and ' lives soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this' present world,' he 
demonstrates that the act of pardon is past, and that 
he is rapidly meetening for a better world. Having 
already meditated on the source of the. sinner's justi- 
fication, and on the use to be made of Christ's 
righteousness when it has been imputed, we now, in 
natural order, proceed to view him under sanctifica- 
tion, or the spiritually restorative process. And as 
Jehovah-Jesus is ' our righteousness,' so we find him 
to be also ' our healer' We shall therefore employ 
this metaphor as the basis of the following illustrations 
of the subject. We shall consider — 

I. The Patient and his Disease. God is good, 
and ' his tender mercies are over all his works.' The 
inference from this is, that all his works must be 
good, and all his creatures liappy ; and it w^as so, till 
sin entered, and with it, Meath and all our woe.' 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 141 

Familiar as we now are with misery, it is difficult to 
realise a period when the opposite was the condition 
of everything and of every one ; when there was no 
groaning in creation, and sorrow and sighing had no 
existence; when conflict in the mind, vice in the 
heart, confusion in the moral faculty, and opposition 
in the will, were strangers in the human bosom ; and 
when the serenity, sunshine, and fertility of nature 
were but the faint emblems of the delicious repose, 
and spiritual exuberance of the soul. We have ever 
been entire strangers to such primeval felicity, and 
have got so accustomed to associate, almost to identify, 
our very existence with internal co^ision with and 
opposition to the law of God, that we are in danger of 
concluding, that if this were not our original state, 
it is so now of necessity, and that therefore v/e are 
not in any way responsible for it, or for its conse- 
quences. Yes; men are found bold and wicked 
enough to reason thus, and even to go the length of 
holding that it was never otherwise ; that all these 
phenomena are constitutional, the very laws of our 
nature, implying no moral change, and consequently 
involving no moral responsibility ; they plead for 
what is termed ' the dignity of human nature : ' they 
refuse to connect the diversified play of its passions 
and its power either with degeneracy or turpitude; 
and they fancy that if perfection in a higher degree 
of intelHgence or of piety is to be associated with our 
history, it is to the future, and not to the past, that 



142 THE HIDING PLACE. 

we must look as the epoch of its development. Now, 
can anything be said to justify such arrogant con- 
tradiction of God's word and human experience? 
There cannot. Certainly it is humiliating to contrast 
man as he is, with what God represents him to have 
been in innocence ; and it is not easy, if it be possible, 
for us to conceive of a state of things wherein his 
soul must have been uninterruptedly absorbed in the 
love and service of God, and when, from its perfect 
harmony with the divine attributes, all its outgoings 
of feeling and desire embraced the entire brother- 
hood with a love of pure disinterestedness — a love 
which not only kept at a distance from, but lived in 
ignorance of that motley crowd of malignant disposi- 
tions which now degrade and curse the race. It is 
also somewhat natural to apologise for man as he is, 
on the conceited plea that just as he is, he ever was 
and must be, and that it is a libel upon him, and an 
insult to his Creator, to conclude that he has become 
degenerate. Born in sin, and habituated now to its 
service, he of course knows not any other condition of 
being. Habits become second nature, and to the 
unrenewed mind, nothing is so agreeable as to puff 
itself up with the conceit that, notwithstanding the 
strictures of theologians, it is, if only withdrawn from 
the contamination of evil example, still an upright 
and imposing specimen of the Creator's wisdom. 
' What a piece of work is man ! How noble in 
reason! — how infinite in faculties! — in form and mov- 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 143 

ing, how express and admirable ! — in action, how like 
an angel! — in apprehension, how like a god!' are 
appropriate expressions from proud and lying lips. 
Be it far from us to under-rate unjustly any creature 
of God. We admit that man is ^ fearfully and won- 
derfully made ;' that there is something sublime and 
stately even in his ruins — something that indicates 
in bygone ages a perfect edifice, yea, a temple where 
the Deity may have once resided. Let us not veil 
what proofs of divine skill remain, but neither let us 
hide the painful truth that the divine image has fled. 
In the serious view of the matter, now that God has 
retired from him, the glory is gone from man ; we see 
it in the sin and misery that abound wherever he 
lives. In the beautiful, though mournful language of 
Howe: ^The lamps are extinct, the altar overturned, 
the light and love are now vanished, which did there, 
the one shine with so heavenly brightness, and the other 
beam with so pious fervour. The golden candlestick 
is displaced, and thrown away as a useless thing, to 
make room for the throne of the Prince of Darkness. 
The sacred incense, which sent rolling up in clouds 
its rich perfumes, is exchanged for a poisonous, hellish 
vapour, and here is, instead of a sweet savour, a 
stench. The comely order of this house is turned aU 
into confusion, the beauties of holiness into noisome 
impurities. Behold the desolation ! all things rude 
and waste, so that should there be any pretence to 
the divine presence, it might be said. If God be here, 



144 THE HIDING PLACE. 

why is it thus ? The faded glory, the darkness, the 
disorder, the impurity, the decayed state in all respects 
of this temple, too plainly show the great Inhabitant 
is gone.' 

But to keep to the figure of the text ; man is now 
the victim of a spiritual disease. Such is the invari- 
able testimony of the Bible. When he sinned, he lost 
his health ; into every vein was transfused the fatal 
poison, and not only was health lost — life itself was 
lost; for what is the existence of a rational being 
totally destitute of holiness, but death ? To drink in 
sin, is to suck in death, for Hhe wages of sin is 
death.' Imbibing this idea, holy men of old were 
accustomed to speak of sin as their sickness : ' The 
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint,' said 
Isaiah. ' Heal me, O Lord,' said the Psalmist, ' for 
my bones are vexed ;' 'heal my soul, for I have 
sinned against thee ;' ^ heal me, O Lord, and I shall 
be healed.' God himself, to encourage such cries, 
says, ' If my people pray and seek my face, and turn 
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, 
and forgive their sin, and will heal their bond.* 
When Gratitude for this mercy Kfts up her voice, it 
is thus she sings : ^ Bless the Lord, O my soul, who 
healeth all thy diseases ;' * praise ye the Lord, for he 
healeth the broken in heart.' When the prophet 
would lay emphasis on the preciousness of Christ's 
sacrifice, he says, 'By his stripes we are healed, — 
a fine and cheering thought, re-echoed centuries 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 145 

afterwards by an apostle. In a word, when the 
Hebrew bard winds up the Old Testament scrip- 
tures, he waxes poetical, and unveils the rising of 
the Sun of Righteousness, ^with healing under his 
wings.' And when the hoary-headed John, who puts 
the conclusion to the sacred canon, would enrapture 
the soul with the beauties and blessings of Paradise, 
he strikes his harp in praise of the tree of life, whose 
' leaves were for the healing of the nations.' 

When there is such a body of scripture bearing 
upon man as thus needing some healing measures, w^e 
are more than warranted, we are obhged to contem- 
plate him as a patient suffering under some direful 
moral malady, and that it is upon this account that 
God now communicates with him. If it be not so, 
then the Bible is not intended for man. If he be not 
' sick unto death,' then the sacrifice of Christ is not 
provided for him — to him no di^dne Healer is sent. 
But the references are all to him. The appalling 
description every way suits him, while the nature 
assumed by his kind Physician, as well as the char- 
acter and design of his mediatorial work, confirm it. 
Jesus said, ^I came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance ;' and to the sneering Pharisees 
he declared, when intimating the object of his mis- 
sion, * they that be whole need not a physician, but 
they that are sick.' Let us, then, briefly consider 
the pathology of this spiritual malady. 

1. It is moral and not physical. It is sin and its 



146 THE HIDING PLACE. 

eiFects, Physical disease is no doubt to be traced to 
sin, but the connection between them is a mystery. 
The seat of this malady is in the soul, every faculty 
of which is deeply affected with it — more especially 
its judgment, its heart, and its will. The judgment 
is deranged ; it actually * does not like to retain God 
in its knowledge;' rather than do so, it takes up 
with other gods — opposes the one only and true God — 
insults Jehovah, laughs at him, dares him, would have 
everything different from what he has ordained, and, 
in the crisis of its delirious strength, imagines that it 
has hurled him from his throne. The result is, 
according to the law of moral declension, that the 
disease increases more and more, till the very know- 
ledge of God goes out of the judgment altogether, 
and ^the fool saith in his heart. There is no God.' 
The heart also is sick ; it sympathises with the judg- 
ment, and renounces God. Its nature is to love 
him most fervently and supremely, but now it hates 
him most intensely. It calls in the world and its 
trifles, the flesh and its lusts, the devil and his 
principalities, and entertains them with the music 
and the wine of its homage. Whatever is holy it 
loathes — whatever is heavenly it hates — whatever is 
divine it madly defies. It is a hard, a stony, a rotten 
heart, hence it has no attachments to the generous 
and the good; it is sordid and impure, hence it 
^ prostitutes itself to the lusts of every unclean thing. 
As for the will, the disease of sin has made fearful 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 147 

havoc with it. In relation to God, indeed, man has 
no will at all. To every good thing in his law, it is 
reprobate ; it is perverse and obstinate in the extreme, 
and never indicates this so powerfully, as in doggedly 
refusing even his pardoning mercy; hence these 
words, ^Ye will not come unto me, that ye may 
have hfe.' 

2. It is universal. There is not one exception. 
Sin is the disease, not of one, but of every age— not of 
one, but of ^ all people that on earth do dwell ; ' for 
* all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' 
Of all that have been bom of woman, Jesus Christ 
alone has been uninfected with sin. It is coeval with 
our existence ; for ^ we were shapen in iniquity, and 
in sin did our mothers conceive us.' New islands and 
continents have been and may be discovered, where 
languages hitherto unknown are spoken, and where 
singular habitudes obtain ; but whatever other ele- 
ments exist, the people are all found to be dying of 
this moral plague — singular proof, however the disper- 
sion and the dissimilitude may be accounted for, that 
we are all descended from one common parentage. 

3. It is loathsome. It must be something very bad, 
when even the eye of the God of pity cannot look 
upon it, — something especially nauseous, when bene- 
volent angels fled from the region of infection, — some- 
thing indisputably disgusting, when the very patients 
themselves become disaffected to each other on account 
of its * wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores;' 



148 THE HIDING PLACE. 

but above all, it must be revolting in the highest 
degree, when even He who undertook to cure it, shrunk 
back for a moment from the cup of its mixtures which 
he came to drink, that the dying might live, and 
exclaimed, ^ Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me.' A putrid corpse is a ghastly sight, but it 
is fair to look upon compared with a putrid soul. 

4. Its progress is rapid. How soon did it blacken 
the entire face of natm^e! How quickly it did its 
work on holy Adam ! Instantly on being infected, he 
began to skulk and lie, and ere long a murderer grew 
up in his family. By and by, the whole world be- 
came corrupt ; and ' God saw that the wickedness of 
man was great in the earth, and that every imagina- 
tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
tinually.' It is only when it meets with the salutary 
checks of the gospel that its progress is retarded ; but 
apart from all remedies, it has been ever found that 
sin makes quick work in the utter ruin of the soul — 
fearfully quick work in the entire destruction of holy 
and virtuous motives, and in the unutterable wretch- 
edness which it entails on its victims. 

5. It is incurable. By human skill it certainly is. 
We may say of it as the prophet said to the Assyrian, 
'There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is 
grievous;' and with Jeremiah we may complain: 
' Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, 
which refuseth to be healed?' Prescriptions innu- 
merable have been given, and experiments of all kinds 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 149 

tried, from the vaunting proposals of philosophy and 
the amiable eiForts of benevolence, down to the ridi- 
culous quackery of the empiric, and the profane orgies 
of superstition. But all have been in vain ; and to 
each may be addressed the charge, ' Thou hast no 
healing medicines.' Sin has spread itself alike 
ragingly among the comparatively sound retreats of 
wisdom, as among the lowest purHeus of ignorance — 
into cities of the highest renown, and cabins of deepest 
degradation. It is as rampant in Europe as in Africa, 
and bids equal defiance to the lights of the nineteenth 
century, and the darkest of the mediaeval ages. It 
spares none. It resists effectually all attempts to 
subdue or eradicate its virus. Hence have miserably 
failed all the efforts of unenlightened reason, in every 
period and in every part of the world, to cure man of 
this hereditary distemper. 

6. It is fatal. ' The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' 
No man has ever yet seen a fatal case ; for this implies 
the state of the lost — the irretrievably lost soul, in the 
region of torments. Unless we could pay a visit to 
the dead-house of the wicked, we cannot describe the 
appearance of a soul to which sin has proved fatal. 
But from scripture accounts, we may conceive of its 
horrible condition ; and from what can be seen of its 
progress in those instances where no cure had ever 
taken the least effect, we may imagine somewhat of 
the appalling reality. It ought to be enough for us 
to know, that where no remedy is applied, a fatal 



150 THE HIDING PLACE. 

termination is certain. Left to run its course, re- 
action or convalescence is equally impossible with the 
upward flow of the mountain cataract, or the joyous 
agility of the lifeless body. It takes the very body to 
pieces, and reduces it to dust. It attacks the vitals of 
the mental part ; and though it cannot annihilate its 
existence, it entirely and for ever separates it from 
God, and hope, and peace ; for ' there is no peace, 
saith my God, to the wicked ;' and ' the wicked shall 
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God.' There ' their worm dieth not, and the fire is 
not quenched ;' there ^ the smoke of their torment 
ascendeth up for ever and ever ;' and there they shall 
be the victims of unutterable, intolerable, and ever- 
lasting woe. Such is the fatal termination of sin. 
But let us now turn to — 

II. The Physician and his Eemedy. Scrip- 
ture tells us that there was once a council held in 
heaven, and that the subject of deliberation was a 
suitable remedy for the disease of sin. We are fur- 
ther told of the result — and a memorable one it was 
for our world. A physician equal to the task was 
found in the person of the only-begotten Son of God 
himself; and the remedy proposed was nothing less 
than the ^ shed blood' of his Son, as ^ our passover, 
sacrificed for us.' None of the angels had skill 
enough, and nothing but ^the blood of God' had 
virtue sufficient to cure the malady. The gospel tells 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 151 

the marvellous tale — how that in due time the promised 
Healer appeared on earth, ^made of a woman, and 
made under the law ;' having descended to this in- 
fected region, in order that he might take the disease 
upon himself, and by reason of his divine strength 
exhaust its virus, and thus deprive it of its power to 
kill. Strictly speaking, he could not really be the 
subject of sin ; and indeed it was necessary that our 
Surety should be, and he was, ^without sin;' but 
though not inherently, he was by imputation con- 
nected with it: ^The Lord hath laid on him the 
iniquity of us all ;' ' Surely he hath borne our griefs 
and carried our sorrows.' We read in history of a 
warlike monarch who was wounded in battle by a 
poisoned arrow. Death was inevitable, unless some 
one with courage and love enough would suck out the 
poison. Such an one appeared in his own wife, who 
extracted it with her lips. The life of her husband 
was preserved. But what was this, or any other 
authenticated case of disinterested suffering, com- 
pared with the sacrifices of our Lord Jesus, in order 
that sin-stricken souls might look upon his cross and 
live for ever? 

1. Let us reflect on his personal dignity. He who 
did this was the equal of the Father. Creation came 
forth at his fiat, and before him the hierarchy of 
heaven ^veil their faces with their wings.' He was the 
favourite of all the celestial inhabitants ; and beyond 
all, when the Lord ^ gave to the sea his decree that 



152 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the waters should not pass his commandment : when 
he appointed the foundations of the earth : then He 
was by him as one brought up with him, and he was 
daily his dehght.' He was ' the Angel of the Cove- 
nant/ who appeared and spake unto the patriarchs; 
the shekinah that dwelt between the cherubims ; the 
* man of war,' who fought and won all the battles of 
his people ; the God of the prophets, who ' spake as 
they were moved by his Spirit ;' the spotless son of 
Mary; the worker of miracles; the wisest of preachers; 
the most warm-hearted of friends ; the most compas- 
sionate of benefactors ; and at length, the triumphant 
conqueror of hell, of death, and of the grave ! 

2. Let us reflect, especially, on his mediatorial ser- 
vices — on the obedience, the suffering, and the death 
to which, as in the former chapter we have seen, he 
cheerfully submitted, so that a justifying righteous- 
ness might be procured for the guilty. While sojourn- 
ing among men, he cured miraculously all manner of 
bodily diseases, his most prominent public character 
being that of a physician. We cannot fail to notice 
in this, his intention to signify the spiritual object of 
his mission, which was to open the eyes of the blind 
understanding, the ears of the deaf spirit, and the 
heart of the loveless ingrate. All kinds of patients 
came to him, and all were cured of whatsoever disease 
they had. And so all sinners are equally welcome to 
apply his healing virtue to every moral sore and 
spiritual sickness. He will cure every one of them. 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 153 

from the trembling paralytic to the wild demoniac; 
from the earliest symptoms of the disease in smiHng 
childhood to the unmentionable debaucheries of a 
full-grown vice. He can, and sometimes does effect 
his cure at once, as in the case of the thief who died 
at his side ; and even where the use of means is pre- 
scribed, and a length of time elapses before perfect 
holiness is attained, the progress of convalescence is 
sure and steady. In his hands there never was and 
never can be a relapse. In the course of the treat- 
ment there may be sometimes varieties both of pulse 
and pith, of cordial attachment to divine things, and 
of religious strength in attempting divine duty ; but 
progression is the law which the convalescent soul 
obeys. And how is all this effected? In the case 
of his miracles, he did all by the simple exercise of 
his almighty will ; ' the power of the Lord was pre- 
sent to heal them.' It is far different, however, in 
his cure of souls. He cannot do this by a mere word. 
He cannot simply will it. By power alone he might 
call into being orbs of day for the firmament, or orbs 
of light for the eyeballs of the blind. But more, in- 
finitely more than his sovereign word is required here. 
His own blood must flow — his own soul must be 
^ sorrowful even unto death ; ' he himself must ^ give 
up the ghost,' and for a time be the tenant of the 
dust, to which the sinner was sentenced to return. 

3. This leads us to inspect the remedy. There are 
two ways of speaking about it ; either as ' the blood 



154 THE HIDING PLACE. 

of Christ,' which is the procuring cause of spiritual 
life, or as ^ the gospel of Christ,' which publishes and 
offers that blood to the diseased and dying soul, and 
which, when beheved, begins and completes its re- 
covery. Substantially these things are the same ; for 
the gospel cannot be believed, except by the sinner's 
appropriation of that blood of atonement which it 
reveals ; and that atonement cannot be received except 
as it is represented and offered in that gospel. Thus 
the message describing the remedy is often, by a 
metonymy, put for the remedy itself; so that he who 
believes the 'w^ord of God' is in reality using the 
blood of the Saviour. In this view, after all, even 
the cure of the soul is effected by a word — the word 
of God; but in that word is lodged not the mere 
powder that bids the thunder roll or the lightning 
flash, — in its sacred volume reposes the omnipotence 
of mercy ! and forth from its oracles stream the light 
and life of a finished redemption. Truth, then — not 
any truth, or all truth — but tJie truth 'as it is in 
Jesus^ is the grand moral cure for the most terrible 
of human ills. This truth was the music of that 
angels' song which aroused the drowsy shepherds 
from their midnight w^atch, and led them adoringly 
to the infant Saviour. Nor have its notes been ever 
silenced. The hills of Judea took them up from the 
plains of Bethlehem ; the sea of Galilee wafted them 
from these hills to the river Jordan ; and ever since, 
Jordan has overflowed with them all its banks, and 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 155 

transmitted the delicious harmony over centuries of 
time, and continents of people. The beloved disciple 
thus winds up his gospel : ^ And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which, if they 
should be written every one, I suppose that even the 
world itself could not contain the books that should 
be written.' If this be true of the benevolent deeds 
of Christ in the days of his flesh, what language is 
adequate to do justice to the cures which he has been 
effecting ever since in the souls of millions upon 
millions of the vilest and most inveterate cases, and 
which are all at this moment the glorified trophies of 
his gospel in the kingdom of heaven ! That gospel 
cannot be long heard without producing some effect, 
and it cannot be beheved for one single instant with- 
out deciding the cure. Before the wonderful record 
of his love, the melting eloquence of his tears, the 
bloody sweat of the garden, the heart-rending tragedy 
of the cross, the power of his glorious resurrection, 
the doctrine of his holy word, and the law of his per- 
suasive mouth, the rocks of human depravity have 
been rent in twain, the tempests of fierce passions 
have been stilled, the fury of raging lusts has been 
subdued, and every kind and degree of spiritual 
loathsomeness has been changed into the beauties of 
holiness and the handmaids of piety. 

4. And this gospel, believed on, is the only remedy. 
Jehovah-Rophi has devised no other; no other is 
needed; none other is therefore ever applied. The 



156 THE HIDING PLACE. 

soul has lost its hope, and it is the gospel that 
replaces it. It has the deadly power of sin in every 
faculty, and it is the gospel that neutralises the vile 
influence, abolishes the death, and restores to life. If 
sin has the sting of death, the gospel extracts it. If 
the strength of sin be the law, the gospel overcomes 
it. The soul has lost its light, and it is the gospel 
that shines into it. It has lost its peace, and it is the 
gospel that tranquillises it. It has lost its purity, and 
it is the gospel that sanctifies it. It has lost its love, 
and it is the gospel that re-inflames it. Sin has 
twisted its icill and tortured it into every evil bias, 
and it is the gospel that reduces its dislocations, and 
makes it pliant as the tender twig. The gospel has 
done all this, and the gospel alone can do it. Educa- 
tion has done much for the intellect ; science and art 
have done much for civilisation; benevolence has done 
much for humanity ; and all combined have succeeded 
in mightily improving our social character and condi- 
tion. But not one of these agencies ever cured man of 
his spiritual disease. They do not attack the seat of it; 
and after exhausting their vigour upon his outward 
state, they leave him still *dead in trespasses and in 
sins.' The uttermost of these remedies is, therefore, 
infinitely short of his greatest needs. Nay, even 
though they may boast of having amputated some 
morbid limb, or raised up some feeble hand, or 
effaced many blots, and filled up many scars, and 
imparted a hue of health, it has amounted to a mere 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 157 

topical or superficial amendment. The patient has 
not lost one of the bad symptoms ; he is still sick at 
heart — still nauseates wholesome food ; some festering 
sore breaks out every now and then, and by and by 
the artificial stimulants and soothing emollients lose 
power, and he droops, and falls, and dies. In other 
words, his nature has never been changed — he has 
not been converted — his sins remain unforgiven, and 
his conscience unpurged of dead works ; hence he 
dies as he lived, ^ without God,' and without title to 
eternal life. What miserable illustrations of this have 
we in the flickering lives and despairing deaths of the 
world's moral heroes ! They betook themselves to 
tonics of their own decoction, and only discovered 
their ineflicacy when the death-gurgle was in their 
throats. The gospel remedy alone never fails. All 
who have tried it have found it to be an exceedingly 
simple one, neither comphcated in its own nature, nor 
disagreeable for use; an exceedingly easy one, not 
requiring waste of means or exertion of strength on 
their part, but intrinsically powerful on the very 
first application ; an exceedingly pleasant one, alike 
sweet to the taste and joyous in the after consequences 
— offensive it may be to the carnal and conceited, but 
good and grateful to the believing soul ; an exceed- 
ingly cheap one — yea, ^without money and without 
price.' It cannot be purchased ; the wealth of worlds, 
the universe itself were inadequate ; therefore blessed 
be God that bankrupt man has no conditions of sale 



158 THE HIDING PLACE. 

annexed to it. If he be foolish or profane enough 
to offer to this Healer any price for his medicine, any 
remuneration for his skill, the remedy in that moment 
loses its power. 

Be persuaded, then, diseased and dying reader, to 
visit Jehovah-Eophi, and try his precious cure. Is 
he not such an one as you can trust? He knows 
what is man, and what man needs, and he is best able 
and willing to administer. O employ him without 
delay! You will find his visits always seasonable, 
and he never prescribes in the dark, or operates on a 
venture. His attentions are all disinterested, and 
never fag or fail. He is uniformly successful ; for ^ of 
all whom the Father hath given to him, not one is 
lost.^ Come, then, to the blood of his cross, and wash 
in it, and be cleansed from all your filthiness and all 
ycjur uncleanness. 'Though you have been among 
the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered 
with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.' Come 
to the consolations of his gospel, and have every tumult 
lulled. Come to his rich grace, which is sufficient for 
every phase and every turn of the malady, upholding, 
strengthening, soothing, and rejoicing the soul. Come 
to the influences of his Holy Spirit, which are certain 
to make the remedy effectual for even the worst and 
most hopeless — for the opening of the eyes, of the 
ears, and of the mouth, and for the confirmation of 
the feeblest. What a physician ! ^Yliat a remedy ! 
While of all mere pretenders we may say, 'They 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 159 

have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people 
slightly/ of Rophi we may affirm, he has come ^to 
heal the broken-hearted,' and he has healed all who 
have had the sense to apply to him. If any remain 
uncured who have this gospel preached unto them, 
they are perishing of their own accord, and to them 
these solemn words are addressed : ^ For the hurt of 
the daughter of my people am I hurt ; I am black ; 
astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no 
balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why 
then is not the health of the daughter of my people 
recovered V 

in. The cure and its effects. ^What are 
these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence 
came they ? These are they who came out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb.' This beautiful 
scripture presents to our view the perfection of Christ's 
cure. There they are at length in his Father's house, 
all clothed and in their right minds, employing their 
restored vigour and transparent purity in the high 
services of celestial adoration ; nothing now shall 
ever harm or expose them to infection, for Hhey shall 
sin no more.' It were, indeed, a delightful theme to 
expatiate on the blessedness of such spiritual and 
bounding health as theirs, and of the glorious and 
honourable use they make of it ; but who is sufficient 
for such a theme t ' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 



160 ^ THE HIDING PLACE. 

neither have entered into the heart of man the 
things which Grod hath prepared for them that love 
him.' It may be less sublime, but equally useful to 
go round the loiver wardsy and see the cure pro- 
gressing among the convalescent patients ; all of them 
cama to Jesus to be healed ; one with an impenitent 
heart ; another with a godless creed ; a third with a 
sordid soul ; a fourth with a self-righteous spirit ; a 
fifth with libidinous desires ; a sixth with a lying and 
profane tongue ; a seventh with hands imbrued in 
a brother's blood ; an eighth with an evil eye ; a ninth 
with a calumnious mouth ; and, indeed, multitudes 
with the malady in all its stages, and of every modi- 
fication, gathered together from every region of the 
habitable earth. What wretched beings they were 
till they came here ! how happy looking they all are 
now ! some, of course, more or less sickly still, as all 
advance not with equal rapidity. But inquire at each 
as you pass along, and the unanimous testimony will 
be, We were once ^fornicators, or idolaters, or 
adulterers, or effeminate, or abusers of ourselves with 
mankind, or thieves, or covetous, or drmikards, or 
revilers, or extortioners;' but we are now ^washed, we 
are sanctified, we are justified, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the Spirit of om- God.' Yes ; here 
every wounded heart has the 'oil of joy' poured into 
it, and every wounded spirit is mollified with the oint- 
ment of grace. They are all sensibly and visibly 
getting better, and will soon be able to say with the 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 161 

dying saint, ^ Ere long we shall be quite well.' But 
wlio is this that walks these wards with such heavenly 
benignity and noiseless foot? Mark him well; he 
has a word and a smile for every one : here he drops 
some balm, and there he administers the wine of con- 
solation ; yonder he wipes away a tear, and further on 
you see him clothing the heavy spirit with the ' gar- 
ments of praise.' If there be, at any stage of his 
perambulation, an indication of special interest — a 
waxing more earnest in manner, or a stooping more 
condescendingly in position — you will find out that the 
cause of it all is the desperate case of some chief 
sinner, who has just been received. Who can this 
be? Who, but Jehovah-Rophi, the divine and 
merciful Saviour ! Attend his footsteps daily, as he 
pursues his work of curing souls, and you will not 
hesitate to ascribe him all the praise of every cure, 
from beginning to end. 

1. You will praise him as beginning the cure. 
None but he could. To heal is his exclusive prero- 
gative. ^ See now,' he says, ^that I, even I, am he, 
and there is no God with me; I kill and I make 
alive ; I wound and I heal ;' and, again, ' When Israel 
was a child then I loved him, and called my son out 
of Eg}^pt ; I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them 
by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them.' 
Ask any of his patients, and they will re-echo these 
exquisitely tender words. David will tell you that 
he is * the health of his countenance,' that he ' cried 



162 THE HIDING PLACE. 

unto the Lord/ and that he had healed him. Isaiah 
will tell you, > with his stripes we are healed.' Jere- 
miah will tell you that he ^ will restore health unto 
thee and heal thee;' and Paul, and every apostle, will 
substantially add their testimony, by declaring that 
Hhere is salvation in none other,' and that ^ without the 
shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.' And 
how can it be otherwise, when you look at the virulent 
nature of the complaint ? Sin stupifies the sufferer, and 
almost suffocates his respiration. When bodily disease 
waxes extreme, the patient soon becomes miserable. 
He then cares and asks for no cure. He is, there- 
fore, completely dependent on others; and so it is 
with sickly, dying man. It was when the distemper 
was raging in his vitals, and when he raved deliriously, 
that Jesus passed by and touched him. In that touch, 
virtue went out of the Physician and cured the patient. 
It was when we were ^ without strength ' that he died 
for the ungodly. It was when we had ruined our 
constitution in riotous living, and when we had spent 
our all upon other physicians, that he stooped to 
breathe over our spirits the healing breath of his pity 
and his grace. And terrible, indeed, must the disease 
be, when to no voice will it yield but to his whose 
voice is ^ powerful and full of majesty,' and when no 
remedy takes effect upon it but the precious blood 
that flows warm from his own heart. 

2. You will praise him as carrying forward the 
cure* It for the most part happens, that the patient 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 163 

remains in the hospital a long time before he is dis- 
missed cared. Meanwhile he receives constant atten- 
tion and kindness from the medical officers and careful 
nurses. So it is here. After the act of justification^ 
the work of sanctification goes forward ; the means of 
grace are used, the providences of God are blessed, 
and the Spirit of God is given, and all for the 
purpose of progressing the holiness or health of sinners. 
The crisis of a fever is often accompanied with great 
prostration of strength, but this crisis once over, 
vigour gradually returns, under judicious care and 
nourishing diet. It is often, too, when he is at the 
weakest that the ebbing tide of life suddenly turns, 
and flows steadily on to its height. And thus there 
is sometimes a moment in spiritual sickness when the 
pulse cannot be felt ; but this, also, is a moment of 
hope ; for it is not till man becomes nothing that Christ 
is . made anything to him. ' When I am weak,' said 
Paul, Uhen am I strong.' Yea, it has happened 
that, as one would say, death has already taken place ; 
and so it has; but, then, this is that death to sin 
which all die who afterwards ' live to righteousness.' 
Now, it is from this spiritual death-bed that Jesus 
raises the sinner, and then kindly nurses him tiU he 
is able to leave the sick-room, and bear the climate 
and work the work of the better land. He gives him 
pastors and teachers, and Sabbaths and sacraments. 
He gives him books to read — the holy scriptures, 
which are a complete pharmacopeia for religious 



164 THE HIDING PLACE. 

improvement ; ' he sent his holy word,' says the 
Psalmist, ' and healed them' — even ^the sincere milk 
of the word, that he might grow thereby,' together 
with his portion of meat in due season, as he was able 
to bear it. In a word, by order and prudence, and 
the blessing of the Holy Spirit on both, he secures 
the patient's steady and stately elevation to that per- 
fection which must be the grand issue of the whole. 

3. You will pi^aise him^ therefore, for also consum- 
mating the cure. This he does when he removes 
them from the church below to the church above. 
Then the cure is so complete, that when presented 
to his Father, they are all ^ without spot, or wrinkle, 
or any such thing ;' so complete, indeed, that it could 
never be discovered that the leprosy of sin had smitten 
them. It was a law in the house of Moses, that if 
one man smote his fellow to his hurt, he was to see 
to his cure ; the commandment was, ^ he shall cause 
him to be thoroughly healed ;' and such also is the 
law in the house of God : each sinner must be 
'thoroughly healed^ before the Saviour can introduce 
him to the Father ; and thoroughly healed now he 
certainly is. Look into that glorified soul ; its under- 
standing now is a perfect globe of light, transparent as 
b'ght itself ; its judgment now is entirely surrendered 
to the mind of God, and gives command to all around 
it to do him reverence ; its affections now are all en- 
throned by occupying their original positions, — created 
Love, devoid of all selfish cravings, nestles in the 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 165 

bosom of the Uncreated ; Faith waits no longer at 
the door, but enters and takes possession of all the 
promises ; Joy is now perfect at her music, sings no 
more on minor keys, and keeps no willow in her 
garden, because she has no need to hang any harp 
thereon ; and Hope is full : she has no use for her 
anchor now — herself is within the veil, and is pos- 
sessor of all she surveys. But to crown all, even the 
will^ that perverse tj^rant, cheerfully submits itself to 
God ; it is, indeed, unconscious of its own existence, 
so thoroughly absorbed is it in doing his holy pleasure. 
Man, therefore, is at last himself again, and all that 
has been falsely sung in praise of his present condition 
must be discarded as falling now infinitely short of 
the truth. To all this must be added, the restoration 
to him of his very body which was laid in the grave. 
His divine Physician, by his mighty power, repro- 
duces it in a state and form suitable to a soul made 
perfect in holiness. So shall it be found in the 
morning of resurrection : ^ It is sown in corruption, 
it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour, 
it is raised in glory : it is sowti in weakness, it is 
raised in power : it is sown a natural body, it is raised 
a spiritual body.' 



CHAPTER IX, 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI: THE lORD MY HEALER. 

PART II. 

' Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ? ' 

Jeeemiah viii. 22. 

Gilead lay to the east of Jordan, towards Arabia. 
The ^balm' or balsam tree which grew there, and 
there only, was supposed to be an exotic — a transplant 
from Arabia, and one of the gifts of the Queen of 
Sheba to Solomon. It was regarded the most peculiar 
of the vegetable productions of Palestine. To all 
balsamic substances special virtues were ascribed ; but 
from being more scarce, and, at the same time, highly 
medicinal, the plant of Gilead was had in peculiar 
estimation ; many sought after it, and physicians 
went to the spot where it grew to collect, prepare, 
and apply it. In the beginning of April, cuts were 
made in the branches of the tree, from which the 
drops of balm dropped into vessels placed underneath 
for the purpose of receiving it. One of these cuts 
yielded only three or four drops in the day, or one 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 167 

drachm's weight ; and the most prolific tree, during a 
whole season, did not give more than fifteen drachms 
in whole. A few drops, medicinally applied, were 
found in a short time to cure any wound, especially 
if inflammation had commenced. In the time of 
Alexander, its price was twice its own weight in 
silver. It is to this balm, then, that the prophet so 
touchingly alludes in the verse above quoted. His 
allusion, however, must be spiritually understood. 
He had been bewailing the deplorable condition of 
Israel in their captivity, and naturally had his thoughts 
turned to their sins, which he conceives to be their 
disease; and then, sympathising with them in the 
pains which it occasioned, and especially in its fatal 
tendency, he appeals to the mercy and grace of 
Jehovah, which could heal them and give them life, 
under the figure of the balm in Gilead, and the phy- 
sician there, expressing his surprise that any should 
be unhealed or unpardoned when such abundant 
and suitable remedies were at their door. In like 
manner, may we not ask the sinner perishing under 
the gospel dispensation, ^Why is it so?' Is there 
no blood in Calvary ? and is there no Saviour there ? 
It must be from not properly appreciating either the 
skill of the Physician, or the intrinsic worth of his 
remedy. Let us, therefore, dedicate what remains 
to the practical application of the whole subject, by 
showing what is requisite to the proper appreciation 
of ' the Lord our Healer.' 



168 THE HIDING PLACE. 

I. There must be the paineul consciousness 
OF THE DISEASE. If we admit no need of, we shall 
discern no merit in Jesus Christ. Now, we have seen 
already that, whether avowed or not, disease of a very 
dangerous character does exist, vitiating and deranging 
every faculty of the soul. Some scriptures call this 
disease by the most extreme name that can be em- 
ployed, ^ death,^ It may therefore be asked, how can 
the dead be conscious ? how can a corpse feel ? how 
can these dry bones live ? While held as dead in one 
sense, however, God treats and speaks to us as alive 
in another sense, and that so important as to make us 
accoimtable for rejecting the offered remedy. How is 
this to be explained ? The free-thinker says it cannot 
be reconciled with truth, and hence he discards the 
doctrine. Let us humbly consider the matter. We 
see man utterly careless about God and the soul, 
about Jesus Christ and his salvation. If this be not 
spiritual death, what is it? for these are the very 
things about which, as a reasonable and immortal 
being, he ought to be most concerned. At the same 
time, we see him all alive to worldly things, quick to 
feel reverses or resent injuries, and forward to take 
advantage of more fortunate times. Nay, even with 
regard to rehgion, we see him sometimes shghtly 
affected, reason slipping in a whisper that all is not 
right, and conscience partially awakened. When 
this is accompanied with some heavy trial, we see 
also a sort of languid and clumsy attempt at spiritual 



JEHOTAH-KOPHI. 169 

action, which, however, ends in a mournful relapse 
into still deeper indifference. To all this extent, then, 
of resisting conscience, stifling inquiry, and trifling 
with gospel warnings, may the sinner be said, though 
still dead, to be so far alive as to make him responsible 
for not carrying out and acting upon his convictions. 
There is certainly, in this state of things, proof that 
he has some natural capacity left, by which he ought 
to improve these intimations of disease, and seek after 
a proper remedy. At the same time, these are nothing 
more than natural fears. They lack religious or 
spiritual vitality. Still, man is responsible for the use 
to which he turns them. Existing in the conscience 
of a heathen, we know that they shall aggravate his 
guilt : ^ For when the Gentiles, which have not the 
law, do by nature the things contained in the law, 
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.' 
If it be so with the Gentile that has not heard the 
gospel, it must be so with the gospel-hearer on a 
greater scale of responsibility. In resisting even^such 
natural fears, he resists a greater amount of light, 
and incurs more guilt ; for though these fears do not 
in themselves lead to Christ, yet the Spirit of God does 
use them for this end, and by means of them often 
quickens the soul into spiritual being. The two con- 
sciences that cried out, the one, ' Lord, save me ; I 
perish,' and the other, 'Sirs, what must I do to be 
saved f yielded to these fears, and found pardon. It 
is most raanifestly, therefore, the duty of all under 



170 THE HIDING PLACE. 

such influences, to place them before God, and ask 
him to impart to them the divine element, which 
would attract them at once to the cross. This, after 
al], just resolves the argument into our absolute need 
of the Spirit of God to produce within us such a sense 
of Christ's suitableness, as shall teach us to appre- 
ciate and apply his blood. It is unnatural for man 
to acknowledge himself spiritually unclean ; he is 
ashamed of this, denies it, and finally imposes upon 
himself that he is not such a victim. Hence the idea 
of disease leaves him, and with the idea, the wish 
for its cure. Matters, of course, wax worse and 
worse ; and left to himself, the end is fatal. There has 
never been a case when, unaided from above, the 
Physician has been sent for or the remedy used : ' It 
is the Spirit that quickeneth.' There may be a 
sort of consciousness that there is sickness which we 
ourselves cannot cure ; but till the Spirit of God im- 
pregnates this consciousness with his own influence, 
it is never successful; which without figure means, 
tliat conscience may and does accuse man of sin, but 
until God sprinkles it with the peace-speaking blood 
of Christ, ^ there is no soundness in it.' 

Another question occurs : Can man be made re- 
sponsible for not dohig that which it is declared the 
Spirit of God alone can do ? No man, certainly, is 
accountable for the non-production in himself of 
that sense of spiritual need which is inseparable from 
the spiritual cure. But there is an awful amount of 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 171 

responsibility, notwithstanding. Why, for instance, is 
he in such a condition that he cannot do his duty ? 
Why has he thus incapacitated himself? Why has 
he so disinclined his mind as that, though he has the 
natural conviction of something being far wrong 
within him, he has no will, no heart whatever to the 
work of penitence or to the grace of pardon ? This 
is not the doing of God ; for he is not and cannot be 
the author of evil. This is altogether the curse and 
the guilt of the sinner. But in addition to this, he is 
certainly accountable for the use of those means of 
grace w^hich the Spirit has promised to bless, for 
using these sincerely, prayerfully, hopefully, and per- 
severingly, and for his stubborn resistance to those 
thoughts which the use of" such means originates, 
and which ought to lead him at once to Jesus 
Christ. When we say, therefore, that in order to 
appreciate the Saviour, we must first feel our need 
of him, we mean, that until we have used all the 
means in our power, and that in the spirit of mind 
clamantly demanded by the necessities of the case, 
to persuade ourselves that w^e are in a dying state, we 
will never spend one right thought on him who came 
to heal us. The simplest illustration of this is found 
in the figurative language of scripture, which describes 
sin as disease, and Christ as its healer. Now, a per- 
son may have the seeds of incurable disease, and not 
know it. Others see the symptoms, pity the doomed 
one, and predict his early death. Friendship may 



172 THE HIDING PLACE. 

venture to hint it to him ; but the uneasiness occa- 
sioned is momentary, for the inward evil has not yet 
gone so far as to inflict pain. Hence there is no precau- 
tion used, no physician consulted, and no cure wished 
for. But let organic disease pass from the chronic 
to the acute, then alarm is taken, and every available 
mean is earnestly sought after. Let us not despise 
this simple mode of illustrating a mysterious subject. 
The Lord Jesus himself has set the example. Its use, 
therefore, must be a powerful help to spiritual per- 
suasion, when such a Master in Israel condescended 
to it for such an end. How, then, stands the matter 
with you ? You have the disease of sin ; it is work- 
ing in your vitals; it is blanching your spiritual 
aspect, enfeebling your spiritual energies, covering 
with blotches your spiritual form, and giving evidence 
to all around you that you are fast sinking, and must 
soon die. Your friends hint it to you — your pastors 
affirm it — your Bibles prove it — your earthly afflic- 
tions corroborate it — and perhaps every now and then 
you are actually made to stand still and to think. Can 
this be true ? But you do not follow it up — you for- 
get — you permit Satan, the world, and the flesh, to 
deceive you into the idea that it is all a delusion, or 
that, if not perfectly well, you are but slightly ailing, 
and that, by a little care, you must soon recover ; and 
thus it is that your souls die. We would earnestly 
beseech you that peruse these lines to pause and 
ponder. O labour — we say, labour to convince your- 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 173 

selves of your need of Christ, that before the Father 
would send such a Son, and before the Son would die 
such a death, there must have existed a tremendous 
necessity! Labour, then to get your hard hearts 
broken ; for while they resist the Father — while they 
receive blow upon blow from the hammer of God's 
word, and yet remain insensate — hard as the granite 
they must be. Labour to bring down the judgment 
to all the conclusions of scripture, and to fill aU the 
passions with the most intense and unquenchable 
desires after spiritual convalescence. We say, labour 
for all this ; because idleness is fatal here to hope as 
well as to health. You must be resolutely, prayer- 
fully, and constantly at the work ; and if you be so, it 
is certain that, ere long, the awful sense of need shall 
come, the burning fever shall be felt, the stench of the 
putrifying sores shall be intolerable, and the agonising 
terrors of appalling dissolution shall then fling you 
down prostrate under despair, transfixing you with 
the arrows of compunctuous visitations ! 

Indeed ! you respond ; and is this the revv'ard you 
promise to such laborious efforts ? You would have 
us work our minds out of what you call a false secu- 
rity ; but still we enjoy somewhat of the sense of it, 
false and deceiving though it be ; — you would have 
us huriy our thoughts out of what you call the region 
of meteor glare ; but still we enjoy that which, if it 
be not absolute light, is not absolute darkness ; — you 
would have us relinquish our hold of what you call a 



174 THE HIDING PLACE. 

broken reed; but still we enjoy the grasp of some- 
thing tangible, which, if it prevent not, at least breaks 
the fall ; — you would have us dissolve our carousals, 
empty our wine-cups, silence our timbrels, cease our 
dancing, and call a halt to all our gay and gleesome 
life, which you describe as altogether vanity, but 
which to us makes lagging time speed merrily by, and 
drowns the dissonance of life's cries and cares; — and 
you would persuade us, that Avhatever be our worldly 
state, bodily health, or intellectual greatness, we are, 
after all, poor, miserable, blind, and naked — that we 
are the most contemptible creatures in existence, and 
are hastening on, with terrific rapidity, to the region 
of lost souls ! Yes ; you have expressed it so far 
truthfully ; such are the very conclusions to which we 
would have you to labour to come, and that for this 
plain but weighty reason — all this is indispensable to 
your appreciation of Jesus the physician, and to the 
instant application of his all-availing remedy. How, 
think you, is it that up to this day you have never 
been in earnest about your own salvation? It is 
just because you have been taking it for granted 
that you have been well enough, and have never 
believed that with you all is lost. Had you been so 
persuaded, you would have fled to the Cross long ere 
this ; for ^ to know ourselves diseased is half our cure.' 
Nothing will hinder you then. The terrors of the 
Lord will give the speed of lightning to your motion, 
and your passion for cure will wax so strong, that no 



JEHO VAH-ROPHI. 175 

hinderance will be felt in your way ; nothing will be 
accounted a sacrifice; everything that helps you 
forward to Christ will be hailed as an accessory, in 
order that you may be surely and entirely in and with 
him who is the Physician in Gilead, and applies the 
balm that is there for the cure of the wounded ar|d the 
peace of the dying. 

11. There must be an intelligent acquaint- 
ance WITH THE Physician. Plis consummate skill 
must with us not be matter of hearsay merely — we 
must discern such qualities in him, and know assuredly 
that he is perfectly qualified. We have seen that till 
men are consciously ill, they care not for medical 
interference, but that then they seek one in whom, 
from repute or their own experience, they have con- 
fidence. In the spiritual case, however, the patient 
has no previous experience to guide him, and in lieu of 
this, the same Spirit that made him feel his malady 
lets him see the Healer, even Jesus. This is the 
gracious result of a belie\4ng examination of the 
Bible, where the Saviour's healing powers are fully 
delineated and divinely accredited, where multitudes 
of successful cures are duly registered, and where the 
most powerful persuasives urge on the w^eakliest and 
the most despairing, to ask his advice and use his 
prescriptions. But it ought to be especially noticed, 
that no man has any right to expect such an insight 
into the Saviour's worth, apart from a very diligent 



176 THE HIDING PLACE. 

searching of the scriptures. His testimonials must 
be read and studied that we may clearly perceive why 
he ever came to sustain such a relationship to us, and 
how it is that his divine righteousness is sufficient to 
justify. In addition, to acquire such a knowledge of 
Christ, as will dispose us to put ourselves entirely 
into his hands, we must come to the decided convic- 
tion, that sin can be forgiven in no other way than 
through the blood of his cross sprinkled upon us ; that 
in this way its guilt is absolutely certain to be can- 
celled ; and that so far as our own individual case goes, 
he is just as willing as he is competent to deal with and 
cure it. If any man doubt either the one or the other 
of these propositions, he rejects the remedy, and dies. 
If Christ did not die for that man, then that man 
must die for himself; but Christ's death has, beyond 
all controversy, removed every legal obstacle out of 
every sinner's road, and therefore, in that sense, he is 
the propitiation for ^the sins of the whole world.' 
To be assured of this adaptation of the atonement to 
one's own case, is to use the remedy which gives 
eternal life to the soul. Every sinner that has so 
used it, has recovered ; and they who quibble about its 
suitableness, or the Physician's intentions to make it 
available for them, perish in the meantime. Studying 
the cross under these impressions fills the mind with 
light, clears the heart of fears, and ^ purges the con- 
science from dead works.' No other kind of study 
serves any good purpose. Mere dreamy notions of his 



JEHOYAH-ROPHI. 177 

character will not do ; mere fragmentary intelligence 
caught up from books, catechisms, liturgies, confes- 
sions, and conversations, will not do ; mere solemn 
thoughts, floating like clouds before the mind, or 
occasionally supplied with new matter from pulpit pre- 
lections, will not do ; mere superficial and superstitious 
acknowledgments of our needs and of his appropriate 
qualities will not do ; above all, mere hypocritical or 
nominal Christianity will not do. None of these 
exercises ever lead to the object at which we look — 
the unreserved surrender of our precious souls into 
his hands to be healed. 

Jesus Cheist a^d him crucified is a study — 
is the greatest of all intellectual and moral studies — ' 
not a toy to be sported with or a tale to be told — not 
an ephemeral lesson to be got to-day and forgotten 
to-morrow — not a mere branch of education to qualify 
for some humble sphere; but a mighty volume of ear- 
nest thinking — a theme of awful solemnity and majestic 
proportions — the root, and trunk, and branch of the 
tree of life — A study for eternity. We would be 
far from limiting the restorative power of his saving 
truth, or of defining to a point what is the exact space 
over which the human mind must travel, in order 
actually to reach and touch him. Still w^e would 
strenuously insist upon a change to the better in the 
habits of many in these things. O for more severe 
and thoroughly earnest investigation into the ' great 
mystery of godliness!' Most professing christians 



178 THE HIDING PLACE. 

trifle with it. Superficial thinking on Christ is the 
sin, the disgrace, the ruin of the age we hve in. It 
is this which makes and keeps his church a dwarf. 
The depths of his heaUng power are not sounded, the 
length and breadth of his pity for our souls are not 
scanned, and his admirable suitableness as the Physi- 
cian of souls is not revealed, by superficial thinking. 
Such thinking may send us into the membership of the 
church, and become the deceptive aliment on whicli 
we feed our false hopes up to death ; but it never 
saved a sinner, it never cured a soul. To expect that 
confidence is to be established in him otherwise than 
by constant meditation, reading, and praying, is pre- 
sumption of no common order, which would not be 
tolerated in the affairs of the world, and would be 
laughed at even among fools. And yet, there are tens 
of thousands of whom it w^ere worse than ridiculous 
to affirm, that they have profoundly studied the love 
and life, the sufferings and death of the incarnate Son 
of God. David of old made God's word his study 
both day and night, and came very near in his 
practice of the divine testimonies to what w^as required 
of Israel: ^Thou shalt teach them diligently unto 
thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest 
in thine house, and when thou w^alkest by the way, 
and when thou sittest down, and w^hen thou risest up.' 
How few, alas ! treat the gospel in this fashion ! On 
the contrary, do not most men, while proving their 
intellectual vigour by mastering earthly sciences, give 



JEHO VAH-ROPHI. 179 

to the iveightier matters of ^the wisdom of God' 
feeble reflection, and devote a lifetime's intensity to 
that wisdom which is ' earthly, sensual, and devilish ?' 
Let the reader be impressed with the importance of 
this subject, by careMly considering the "evils that 
flow from such tampering with divine truth. For 
example — 

1. Multitudes, in consequence, never appreciate Christ 
at alL They never reach the conviction that they 
need him, and hence they do not apply to him. Not 
having examined his credentials, they never argue 
from these that they must be diseased and dying. 
It is the sincere and beheving study of Christ alone 
that leads men to his atonement. For the miserable 
victims of this fatal negligence we are not only to 
look to the outcasts of society, or to that swarm of 
heathenism which is huddled together in the dingy 
and loathsome back parts of crowded cities, but to 
that throng also of baptised and professing religionists 
who, from habit or fashion, connect themselves with 
the church. These are they who pay out a sum of 
money, and, as it were, matriculate for the sake of 
the external rites of Christianity, but who give them- 
selves as little to the study of their religion as many 
who enrol themselves members of a university, and 
yet give no heed to the lectures delivered, nor to the 
sciences for which lectures were endowed, books pub- 
lished, and expensive apparatus provided. Neither 
party acquire as much genuine learning as would 



180 THE HIDING PLACE. 

qualify them for keeping a door in their respective 
seminaries. The fact is, there is no study in the 
matter. A mere smattering of religion is thought 
to be enough to pass them respectably through life. 
What an insult to the truth of God ! what a depre- 
ciation of the philosophy of salvation I what a contempt 
of the skill and power of Jehovah-Kophi ! Not only 
do souls perish, but an appalling amount of the pre- 
cious means of saving souls is thus wasted and lost. 
The temple builds her altars, kindles her fires, and 
lights up her lamps in vain. The pulpit reads, and 
thinks, and pleads in vain. The avenues to the 
throne of grace are opened up in vain. The Sabbath 
bell rings its inviting peals in vain. The religious 
press pours forth its contributions in vain ; nay, and 
worse than all, up to this point, God has loved, Christ 
has died, and the Holy Spirit has warned in vain. 
There is balm in Gilead, but they will not place their 
pitchers underneath to catch one healing drop ; there 
is a Physician there, but they despise his offered help. 
2. A second evil is the deceit which many practise 
upon themselvesj that they do, ichen in reality they do 
not appreciate Christ, A certain amount is often 
mistaken for the requisite amount of religious know- 
ledge. On obtaining this small portion, books are 
laid aside, and systematic application is no longer felt 
to be necessary. When such is the case, we are but 
tyros in the school of Christ — we are only at the 
alphabet ; and if we do not immediately form loftier 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 181 

ideas of his ^ excellent knowledge,' we shall never get 
the length of first principles. No man can rightly 
study the Christianity of Christ without feeling every 
day the overwhelming truth, that it is an illimitable 
and unfathomable theme. No man can begin in a 
serious frame to scan its dimensions, and penetrate 
into its awful interior, without the solemn conviction, 
that it is a wanton insult to treat the story of redeem- 
ing love, the delineations of its plan, and the very 
secrets of its Author's heart, as if they could be spanned 
by the intellect of a child, or mastered by the glance 
of a holiday attention. Would God that the doc- 
trines of the Bible were attended to with one tithe 
of the earnest mind we give to the things of this 
world ! — then would the communicant rolls of British 
churches be rapidly thinned; then would men of 
their own accord neither touch, taste, nor handle the 
holy and divine elements of the temple ; then would 
they hasten from the altar lest its fires should spring 
upon and consume them — lest that awfal sword that 
has just struck the bleeding Lamb, return not to its 
scabbard till it has mingled their blood with their 
profanity. So long, however, as such low and un- 
worthy opinions exist of what constitutes the true 
excellence of the Saviour, multitudes must contrive 
to deceive themselves and others with the idea, that 
to them it has been given to know as they should be 
known, the ' mysteries of the kingdom.' 

3. A third evil is the unworthy ideas which even the 



182 THE HIDING PLACE. 

genuine disciples of Christ entertain of his unparalleled 
excellence. This is not so disastrous an evil as the two 
former, but it is much to be deplored. No doubt, 
through all eternity, Christ shall never be appreciated 
as he deserves ; still it is within the limits of possi- 
bility, that his people here might form a far higher 
estimate of his peculiar fitness as their IMediator, and 
become more experimentally acquainted with the 
richness of his grace, and, consequently, make more 
decided approaches to that pattern of piety which he 
exemplified and enforces, if they would only raise the 
standard of religious attainments, and exact from, 
and expect in one another, a greater breadth of 
christian learning, as well as a larger amount of chris- 
tian conduct. The truth is, that while every believer 
has as much knowledge of Christ as ensures the com- 
mencement of his spiritual cure, there are yet many 
who may be ashamed of their deficiencies in this 
respect — deficiencies to which we must trace the 
comparatively comfortless opinions wdiich they enter- 
tain of the virtue of atoning blood. The fact is, the 
disciples of Christianity are too soon taken from the 
school — too soon treated as full grown — too soon 
examined for membership — pass that examination too 
easily, and are too soon (as they themselves may 
think) on ' the foundation.' The church is, in 
consequence, only a half-learned church ; and though 
we do not here apply the proverb, that ' no learning 
is better than half-learning,' for any learning of Christ 



JEHOVAH-KOPHI. 183 

is certainly better than none at all, yet would we 
exceedingly deplore the desultory application of God's 
people, in general, to their holiest studies. Their 
occasional falls into sin, their proneness to carnality, 
their frequent conformities to this world, their spiritual 
barrenness, their complaints of coldness and instability 
in religion, their poor thoughts of Jesus Christ, and 
their paltry sacrifices, and feeble efforts on his behalf, 
are but too intelligible symptoms of their educational 
defects, their intellectual poverty, their scriptural 
stintedness, and their entire christian disproportions. 
Ours, indeed, is all the poorer and darker a world from 
this slim and slurring system. Even as it is, christians 
must be regarded ^the salt of the earth,' and Hhe 
lights of the world ;' but O, if they would only 
discipline their minds more sturdily in their lessons ; 
if they would only fill their lamps more purely from 
the vessels of the sanctuary ; if they would only whet 
their appetites by more devotedness to the Bible ; if 
they would only study more on their knees and in 
their closets ; and if they would take their stand more 
frequently beside that 'accuesed tree,' and wait 
till the hum and stir of the world's day were past, 
till the veiled sun had sunk to rest behind Judean hills, 
till the passions of men are momentarily quieted in 
the hours of sleep, till the very demons of darkness 
have retired from the spot where they imagine victory 
to be theirs, and until with these shades and solitudes 
of meditative eve, they have drawn around themselves 



184 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the august spirits of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, 
who all spoke as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost ; and if they would only, night after night, 
plunge their minds into the deep stream of love and 
truth that flows down from that fountain of life ; if they 
would only then and there think and muse, and muse 
and think again, how great would they become ! what 
mighty men in the scriptures! what constellations to the 
church! what luminaries to the world! May our 
Lord hasten the time when, by a larger outpouring of 
the Spirit of all grace, his people shall make Christ, 
who is ' the wisdom of God and the power of God 
unto salvation,' their most profound and constant 
study, so that, as his ' living epistles,' more and more 
of his skill and power to heal ' all manner of diseases' 
may be read by the dying on every side ! Nor has 
the church, in any age, lacked provocations to this 
good work, and this high condition of christian 
attainment. What is it that causes the people of 
God to differ from one another ? Some are of weak 
faith, contracted minds, and sordid dispositions ; they 
seem to live only for themselves, so that if they were 
to die and be buried to-morrow, nobody in the church 
or in the world could discern that the grave had 
closed over them. Others are manifestly of a different 
cast ; they are refined and sensitive in temperament, 
feel strongly the claims of Christ upon them, are 
ever found at the post of danger or of duty, ever 
scheming for the good of precious souls, ever ready. 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 185 

active, zealous towards all good works ; the cause of 
God lies heavy upon their minds ; the good of souls 
is ever uppermost in their heart, and the glorj 
of Jesus is the crown upon the whole of their 
plans and actions. While they live they make 
themselves felt and heard, and when they die their 
tomhs are visited by mourners, who grieve, not so much 
for themselves, as for the loss which the church and 
the world have sustained. The difference is all to be 
traced to the degree in which Christ and him crucified 
have been studied, and to the estimates formed of the 
essentiality to their well-being of his ' healing stripes.' 
Appreciation and study always go together, the one 
being the reward of the other. More advanced 
believers have made, and are still making, religion 
their ' study all the day ;' and, ever as they gaze and 
muse, the sublime dimensions of redeeming love are 
gradually opened up. In the one we see the stupidity 
and indifference of defective scholarship ; in the 
other the high attainments that ever wait upon the 
glorious marchings of the human mind over the cul- 
tivated field of truth, together with its flights of 
thought and contemplation among those lustrous orbs, 
which draw light from that Sun which riseth ' with 
healing in his wings.' 

III. There must be the application of the 
REMEDY. It is of no use merely to call a physician 
and get his prescriptions. To be the better of both, 



186 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the medicine must be taken and the remedy applied. 
In like manner, the Holy Spirit, in employing this 
figurative language to describe the spiritual remedy, 
certainly intends us to take up the idea, that to be 
cured by Christ \f^ must actually apply it. The 
sore could not be healed simply by the odour of the 
ointment, nor the fever allayed by the sight of the 
physician. We must submit ourselves to him, that he 
may do what is considered best in the circumstances. 
The patient must have no mind of his own in the 
matter, except to give his consent to the specified 
treatment. The physician's skill on the one hand, 
and the patient's acquiescence on the other, may 
bring about the desired cure. And it is thus that we 
must use Christ and his precious blood. We must 
believe him to be an infallible authority, and proceed 
at once to act upon his opinion. We must take the 
cups of medicine he offers, every one of them, and in 
the order and at the times he specifies — the cup of 
salvation first, the cup of affliction next, and all the 
other mixtures of a gracious and providential character 
which contribute to recovery. To the festering wound 
we must apply his mollifying ointment, and to the 
blind orb his healing eye-salve. We must abandon 
the use of all quack • remedies, and peremptorily 
dismiss all former attendants. To drop his justifying 
blood on our guilt, to sprinkle it on our impurities, 
and ever afterwards to use it for strength, for comfort, 
and for confirmation, is actually to apply Christ to the 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 187 

diseased soul, and to certify its cure. In simple 
language, this just means that we cannot be saved 
unless, with our understandings enlightened and our 
hearts affected, we believe that Jesus lived and died 
for us — that all he did was in our stead — that what 
he did was perfectly sufficient — that neither law nor 
justice, did or could demand any more — that he is at 
this moment and at every moment willing to receive, 
and pardon, and accept us, and that in the very 
moment in which we thus believe, our cure is begun 
and our life is saved. Is there not then but a step 
between every sinner and eternal salvation? And 
why is it that this step is not taken ? The Physician 
is able and willing ; the remedy is in his hands ready 
to be applied, and the patient confronts both — his 
consent alone being necessary to the instant com- 
mencement of a process which is certain to deliver 
him from the curse of the law, and to make him an 
heir of everlasting life. Why is it that this consent 
is withheld? On the understanding that the sickness 
is felt and that the Physician's art is appreciatedy O 
why is it that there should be any reluctance at once 
to proceed to do as he wishes? This question is 
capable of solution only by abandoning the supposi- 
tion on which it rests. The sickness of sin cannot be 
felt, and the work of Christ cannot be known in 
any case where he is not instantly believed in. No 
man believing that a fatal poison has been unwit- 
tingly swallowed by him, and under the terror of a 



188 THE HIDING PLACE. 

speedy and painful death, -will refuse the antidote. 
No sinner whose enlightened conscience accuses him 
of guilt, and who is under the fear of. the impending 
wrath of God, will hesitate to hide himself in Christ, 
where such wrath cannot reach him, and where he 
finds that all his legal debts are discharged in full and 
for ever. The sinner dies if he does not thus ap- 
propriate Christ ; and whoever he be, he has not 
one vestige of excuse for remaining unforgiven, after 
Christ has been preached to him. He has none, for 
instance, in the offensiveness of the cross to his natural 
pride. Naaman the Syrian could not brook the idea 
of washing in the Jordan when Abana and Pharpar, 
rivers in Damascus, were still flowing; but he had to 
yield to the prophet's terms before his leprosy was 
healed. And so must the leprous soul do with the 
blood that flows from the cross; there is only this 
difference, Naaman dipped seven times in Jordan 
before his flesh returned to him — the sinner has only 
to do it once in the stream from Calvary, and all is 
well. He has no excuse in the holiness of the law or 
in the dignity of the Lawgiver, both of which we have 
seen are perfectly satisfied by Jehovah-Tsidkenu, 
^ the Lord our righteousness.' He has none from the 
character' or age of his sins, for ^ Christ is able to save 
to the uttermost all that come unto God by him ;' and 
no living sinner is beyond this uttermost, neither has 
any poor wretch ever perished who has ventured his 
all upon that abihty. He has none from the numerous 



JEHOVAH-EOPHI. 189 

failures of his past attempts, for, if sincere in his 
wishes, God has abeady accepted his ^ day of small 
things,' and can neither ^ break the bruised reed nor 
quench the smoking flax.* These efforts must not 
be discontinued ; they are the strugglings of a newly- 
born heart, which, by the administration of a little 
more of God's sufficient grace, are certain to issue 
in the desired consummation. He has none in his 
absolute poverty^ in any or in every respect, for the 
more entirely he denudes himself of his fancied 
merits, the more welcome he is; yea, till he strips 
himself completely naked, and falls prostrate before 
the cross, to be washed in the blood and clothed with 
the seamless vesture of the righteousness of Jesus, he 
is not regarded. The poor woman in the gospel was 
just in the very condition that recommended her to 
the Saviour, when she came to him after she had 
^ spent her all ' upon other physicians, who did not 
succeed in curing her. He was her last resort, but 
her best; nor did her choice of him only when all 
others had failed, in the least degree disincline hira 
towards her. He has none from any past and positive 
rejection of Christ and his mercy; for Jesus allows 
no consideration whatever to influence him when the 
suppliant is fairly at his feet, and when his healing 
art is appealed to. He is quick to avail himself of 
the opportunity of saving all who avail themselves of 
the simple condition of taking what he offers. He 
has none from the general nature of the gospel invita- 



190 THE HIDING PLACE. 

tions ; for the idea of mere numbers does not enter 
into it othenvise tlian to assure the whole world that 
in him there is enough and to spare for all. The 
minor must be included in the major proposition; 
and if the pardon of sin be offered to all without 
exception, then thou art included, O man, whosoever 
thou art that readest. He has no excuse, in short, from 
any consideration whatever ; for it is irrespective of all 
that possibly can be comprehended within the extremes 
of human guilt, that Jesus stands upon our globe and 
cries, 'If any man thirst, let him come to me and 
drink.' Heaven's high arches receive and re-echo that 
cry; for thus saith the Eternal One, ' Come NOW and 
let us reason together : though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be white as snow : though they be red like 
crimson, they shall be as wool ;' and with the same 
glorious assurance the church's revelation on earth 
is sublimely wound up, ' The Spirit and the bride say. 
Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. And 
whosoever willy let him take of the water of life 
freely.' 

IV. There must be, finally, the consequent 

PROOF OF the cure, IN THE MANIFESTATIONS OF 

HOLINESS. This closing remark may be thought out 
of place, inasmuch as if the cure be actually begun, 
then Christ must have been appreciated already. 
This is so far true ; appreciated, certainly, he must 
have been, to a certain extent, but not appreciated. 



JEHOVAH-ROPHI. 191 

even yet, as he ought to be. In the first flush of 
returning health, after long disease, the patient thinks 
he is duly grateful to his attentive physician ; but 
after he is permitted to leave the sick chamber, and 
especially after, with thorough invigoration, he goes 
out and again breathes the fresh air, witnesses the 
green fields, associates with dear friends, and applies 
himself to his proper engagements, it is then that he 
more correctly estimates the skill to which, under 
God, he is indebted, and the value of the health itself 
to which he has been restored. In like manner, 
having believed, we ought to go about doing good; 
we ought to take plenty of exercise in every walk 
of christian and benevolent enterprise. We are 
now better, and ought to appear in the society of 
the godly; we are now strong, and ought to exert 
ourselves in the proper business of life, even the glory 
of God. Thus, the more able we feel for our duties, 
and the more pleasure we take in them, the more 
grateful we will be to the Lord, who ' healeth all our 
diseases;' that is, the more and better we will appre- 
ciate the inestimable benefit he has conferred upon 
us. Let us, then, who profess to be cured, test our 
new health in the activities of practical piety. This 
is unquestionably our duty. It is not only the best 
way to know Christ experimentally for ourselves, but 
to recommend him to others. We never more 
effectually sound forth his praise, than when we 
exemplify or embody his religion in our life. By 



192 THE HIDING PLACE. 

this, others, poor and diseased as we once were, are 
astonished to see our agility, our usefulness, and our 
happiness, and they are induced to apply to him who 
thought out our case, and to use for themselves that 
remedy which with us has been so successful. Thus, 
by the eminent holiness and the undimmed lustre of 
the children of light, the whole world shall, in due 
time, be provoked to try Christ's healing virtue, and 
every one that tries shall partake of similar blessings. 



CHAPTER X. 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM : THE LORD OUR PEACE- 
PART I. 

' Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it 
Jehovah- Shalom.' 

Judges vi. 24. 

Familiar as we now are with the idea of the pardon 
of sin, it is not natural to us^ and could never have 
been mooted by human reason. We see this in the 
case of the fallen angels. They never knew anything 
but despair; and Satan's efforts to ruin man went 
upon the hope, that if he could only get him to sin, 
he should succeed beyond the possibiHty of failure. 
Hence, also, our first parents had no such thought 
after the fall: they only trembled and waited for 
death — having not the slightest hope, till God himself 
spake peace, and thus dropped the embryo promise of 
a Saviour into their minds. The idea was then bom, 
and was the earliest note in the song which afterwards 
burst in full harmony upon a wondering world — the 
first wave of that flag of truce, which, streaming from 



194 THE HIDING PLACE. 

all the towers of Zion, is yet to rally and lead back 
mankind to God. But was there not peace between 
God and man before sin ? Yes ; only it was of an 
entirely different character from that which was sub- 
sequently proclaimed from the cross. The former 
was the result of the creature's innocence, and of 
God*s manifested friendship ; and, indeed, was rather 
joyful or blissful existence than peace. Strictly 
speaking, peace in relation to God and the sinner is 
an economic term, implying the previous existence 
of dispeace or war; just as when you speak of a 
coming calm, you fancy a previous storm; or of 
restored health, you fancy disease ; or of repaired 
fortunes you fancy losses. That calm to be appre- 
ciated, implies that you have confronted the fury of 
the elements; that convalescence, to be understood, 
implies that you have undergone severe pain; and 
that property, to be valued, implies that you have 
suffered in adversity. In like manner, when we aim 
at a correct apprehension of peace from and with 
God, we must know and feel that by nature we are 
at variance with him, and that it can only be by 
grace that hostilities are suspended and peace restored. 
Having then, in the former chapters, shown God's 
anxious desires to subdue the war that is carried on 
among men against his law, and also the glorious 
provision he has made to give pardon on the ground 
of Christ's imputed righteousness, and to restore 
purity to our nature by the work of the Spirit through 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 195 

the truth ; that is, having seen the guilty sinner jus- 
tified and sanctified, let us now contemplate the 
necessary consequence of all this in the peace which 
he now enjoys, or the grand result of the imputation 
of Christ's righteousness on the one hand, and .the 
believing acceptance of it on the other. To do this 
great . subject justice, we must submit the following 
propositions : — 

I. Between God and the unrenewed soul 
THERE IS dispeace. Whence does this arise ? 

1. From contrariety of nature. Though of the 
same nature as to holiness when created, (for ' in the 
image of God created he him,') there is and must be 
opposition when the one continues holy and the other 
becomes sinful. While they were alike, all was har- 
mony ; but when sin entered, all became disparity 
and antithesis. And who woiJd have it otherwise? 
Our depraved hearts now feel God's law to be a 
grievous burden, and our alienated minds now cleave 
to the dust whence our bodies sprung, rather than to 
the heaven from whence came our deathless souls ; 
but does even reason assent to it, that God should be 
pleased with such a melancholy reversal of his original 
will? It does not. We can conceive of nothing 
more terrific in its results upon the whole intelligent 
creation, than that there should be harmony between 
rebellion and the Holy One. If the creature will 
sin, let not God consent ; if he will pollute himself, 



196 THE HIDING PLACE. 

O let the Deity remove far from him ; and if he must 
be miserable, let not the God of peace approve. 
Thus, that law which separates God from man, and 
which at first seems to be so harsh and cruel, is the 
la\\i of kindness to the universe — is the just and righ- 
teous reason why, from contrariety of nature, there 
cannot be peace between them. If there were, he 
could neither be the God of love, nor of purity, nor 
of goodness. In fact, the supposition borders upon 
blasphemy, and conjures up the dark and dread idea 
of a demon. 

2. From opposite wills. This is a corollary from 
the former. Contrariety in nature leads to opposition 
in will. God's will is and ever must be to the keeping 
of the law, or obedience to its. very letter. Man's 
will is now, and while unrenewed, ever must be, to 
the breaking of the law, or to disobedience. These 
two things can never meet. Two rivers can never 
amalgamate while the one runs from the other ' as 
far as the east is from the west.' There cannot be, 
at one and the same time, supreme love and supreme 
dislike to the law. Two such antagonist principles 
never were conjoined in any one intelligent being. 
There may be, as we think it probable there is, an in- 
tellectual conviction in the breasts of devils, that the 
will of the Almighty, howsoever expressed, is .essentially 
excellent, but they do not on that account love it — they 
the more cordially hate it, because of its purity and in- 
tegrity. It is often so with man. He perceives that 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 197 

whatsoever the Creator commands must be good, but 
he feels notwithstanding an antipathy to the spirituahty 
of every divine precept. This is most painfully ex- 
hibited in his opposition even to ^ the will of God in 
Christ concerning him.' The gospel is just another 
decalogue suited to a guilty world ; and its command- 
ments are all expressive of God's earnest wish that 
all men should repent, believe, and be saved through 
his Son. Here, as one would think, there should be 
agreement at once. But there is not. There is just 
as much dispeace as ever. Men will not be saved 
any more than they will be holy. It is indeed hum- 
bling to think of it; their will is to perish, while 
God's will is to pardon. Can there be harmony here ? 
O who would have it so ? We reply, let dispeace on 
this account ever last ; for God forbid that our will, 
and not his, should be done. 

3. From different designs. God's design is to 
prevent the spread of rebellion. He therefore 
manifests his hatred of sin by avowing his difference 
with the sinner on that account. To do otherwise 
might promote among his subjects- the spirit of 
perilous disaffection. But God must ever be the 
supreme and only potentate, therefore between him 
and disloyalty there must be set up an unmistake- 
able token of his inflexible purpose to put an end to 
its increase, if not to its existence. He will have all 
his creatures everywhere to know that ^he is God.' 
and that ' besides him there is none else.' Now, it is 



198 THE HIDING PLACE. 

man's design to spread rebellion. This was the 
object of Satan when he tempted him, and he is of 
the spirit of the tempter. He takes of him ; and 
hence, if left entirely to himself, he would become in 
his turn the tempter of Innocence, if he could find her 
upon the earth. The sinner wishes to be his own 
master ; there is nothing he so much relishes as the 
sense of freedom from the divine restraints; ha 
therefore, in this respect, finds it his interest to resist 
God, and encourage within himself, and all whom he 
can influence, godless living. But specially it is God's 
design in redemption to bring men back again to 
himself and his service, and therefore he will have no 
peace with man so long as he desires not the know- 
ledge of God's ways. 

4. From unequal forces. God is omnipotent. He 
has determined not only to stigmatise, but to exter- 
minate sin, and he will do it. * Is anything too hard 
for the Lord?' ^Who hath hardened himself against 
him and prospered V ' Who would set the briars 
and thorns against me in battle ? I would go through 
them; I would burn them together.' Yielding on 
God's part to the plots or wishes of sinful men cannot 
be expected ; as soon could he surrender his throne. 
In such a case, what can be the issue but distance 
between them? Man may not yield, but he shall 
never succeed. He is a weak creature even in 
innocence compared with Jehovah ; he is wealmess 
itself in his fallen estate. All his opposition must 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 199 

therefore be abortive. It never sets aside the plans 
and processes of the divine government, and re-acts 
only upon the rebel in the way of sending him 
farther down into degeneracy and farther off from 
God. True, in the lowest depths he may still oppose 
God, but ^ he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' 
This cheerless exile, if mercy prevent not, must be 
perpetuated for ever; for God cannot give way, and 
the sinner will not. 

5. From unalienable decrees, God has said it, 
' There is no peace to the wicked.' While the sinner, 
then, remains obstinate, he shall find God inflexible. 
Hence the actual misery and the awful conflict in the 
human soul. Unbelieving man is ever under a 
cloud — a curse is ever resting upon him. . He is 
reported to and known in heaven as an enemy of the 
Most High, and behold all gcfdly agencies make 
common cause against him as a common foe. It is a 
fearful condition ; God frowns upon him always in 
his rebellion, yea, the curse not causeless falleth ever 
like a blight upon his ' basket and his store,' so that 
all he does shall prosper ill. Conscience frowns upon 
him. Despite of himself, he is ill at ease; the 
monitor within vexes him in the world, haunts him in 
sleep, frightens him in trouble, and appals him in 
death ; for being the vicegerent of God, conscience is 
ever on God's side. Angels frown upon him. They 
are holy, and must repudiate sin wherever they find 
it. They are God's armies, and must and do fight to 



200 THE HIDING PLACE. 

suppress rebellion whenever they are so commissioned. 
The very world whom he worships frowns upon him. 
Yes, singular enough, though he is its willing slave, 
he takes its contempt and its scowl for wages, and 
mistakes its cheats and its strokes for honour. It 
certainly promises fair, but is ever false ; no word it 
gives is kept, and all its elements only tantalise, if 
they do not destroy his soul. 

In these circumstances, how can there exist any- 
thing but distance between God and the unrenewed 
sinner 1 He is a solitary Ishmaelite ; every holy hand 
is against him, and he is against every holy one. 
The war of rebellion is everlasting. Under a terrible 
law, the rebel is driven by an infatuation to per- 
petuate the fight even in the midst of endless defeats. 
O truly ^ there is no peace to the wicked.' There 
may be a lull, as sometimes in the thick of a bloody 
battle, night sets in, the roar of the cannon is silenced, 
and the shouting of the warrior is not heard ; but the 
morning dawns, and the furies of war are again at 
work. Let the sinner then remember that what he 
now mistakes for peace is only the stillness and 
inaction of some midnight hour. When the trumpet 
sounds in the morning of resurrection, there shall be 
an awful re-awakening of God upon his conscience, 
of conscience upon himself, of angels upon his sin, 
and of every heavenly interest against his head. But 
lest some may think that by certain well-managed 
devices they may yet pacify all these, and thus be 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 201 

also at peace with God, let us sift such a thought and 
expose its vanity. 

II. This dispeace remains, and is aggravated 

BY EVERY HUMAN EXPEDIENT TO REMOVE IT. 

Whatever vain man may say, he feels that there 
is deep-rooted alienation between God and him. He 
may forget this in the tumult of a worldly life, but 
whenever a pause comes, say in some night of sore 
trouble, he hears again what after all was never 
silenced — only the din of the conflict drowned its still 
small voice — he hears conscience, and then fears ex- 
ceedingly lest God should arise and tear him in pieces. 
This accounts, in part, for his resort to certain devices 
for the bringing about of peace. It is indeed marvel- 
lous, that depraved as human nature is everywhere, 
it is always discovered at some device for propitiating 
the favour of Deity. You wiU see the heathen at it 
in his sacrifices to idols — the mahommedan at it in his 
prayers within the mosque — the papist at it in his 
beads, ave-marias, and haircloth — the protestant at it 
in his external conformity to christian institutes — the 
pharisee at it in his fastings, long prayers, and broad 
phylacteries — the worldling at it in his obeisance to 
pubhc decency — the sensuahst at it in his weak 
attempt to justify the gratification of what he calls 
natural appetites — the deist at it in his pitiful plaudits 
of the greatness and benevolence of God — the dying 
at it in their latter flights to a gospel altar they have 



202 THE HIDING PLACE. 

ever sneered at — and all at it in their innumerable 
varieties of appeal to Heaven for mercy now and 
hereafter. 

Not one of them all succeeds. The Creator has 
endowed conscience with a faculty of discovering the 
utter worthlessness of all human expedients for its 
pacification. The consequence is, that by man's 
devices matters are only made worse. The more that 
is spent upon the work of self-righteousness, the more 
havoc is made upon those feelings and hopes which 
were living upon the idea of a confirmed peace. A 
river may be arrested in its course by the throwing 
up of some huge barricade; a furious fire may be 
partially quenched by the letting in of water ; a final 
onset of the remnant of a great army may for a 
moment turn the tide of success ; but there is delusion 
in the idea that a pause must be a peace : not only is 
it not so, but in a little the pent-up stream, the 
smothered fire, the stunned brigade, all gather up 
their innate strength, and by reason of concentrated 
force, rush forward to deal out terrible vengeance 
against opposing expedients. And so it is with the 
sinner in his efibrts to roll back the tides, or quench 
the flames, or overthrow the charges of his own con- 
science. The waters of self-accusation shall burst 
forth, and, in heedless speed, lay prostrate his Babel 
towers — a moral flood, they re-enact the horrors of a 
spiritual deluge ; the fires of infernal lusts must again 
rage, and take vengeance on themselves for the self- 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 203 

denial of an hour ; the onslaught of all holy powers 
shall come down like the Assyrian with death on its 
wings, and what fire and water have left standing, 
the thunderbolts of an angry law and an incensed 
justice shall completely destroy. All this has been 
already proved in the epitome given in a former 
chapter, to prove the impossibility of a fallen nature 
giving to holy law either a perfect obedience or a 
sufficient atonement.* 

in. Peace is restored by the apprehexsiox 
OF the mercy of God in Christ. If we minutely 
analyse the dispeace, we shall find, among its other 
causes, these two difierent but powerful elements — 
the idea of God's anger, and the hopelessness of the 
case. The idea of the divine indignation disposes to 
the fear and hatred of God, and the hopelessness of 
the case intensifies that hatred to an appalling degree. 
To have such dispeace removed, it is evident that 
these two elements must be taken out of the sinner's 
mind. But can these undergo any change ? Can 
God ever cease to be angry at sin, and can the sinner 
ever hope for mercy from such a God ? At once and 
emphatically we reply to both questions. No, It is 
therefore evident that the results or effects of this 
stern immutability must be taken away, otherwise 
this dispeace must be perpetuated. One of the effects 
of God's displeasure at sin is his banishment of tlie 
* See Part I. of * Jehovah-Tsidkenu.' 



204 THE HIDING PLACE. 

sinner from his presence, and the infliction upon him 
of the sentence of death. Now, till this sentence be 
repealed, and this exile be brought back, there cannot 
be harmony between them. But the sentence is 
repealed, and the sinner is recalled, and that in a way 
perfectly consistent with the sovereignty and holiness 
of God ; a di\dne substitute, as we have seen, has 
borne the sentence, proclaimed the pardon, and re- 
opened the door of friendly communion. In former 
chapters we contemplated the proofs of God's anger 
at sin by his laying upon Jesus Christ ' the iniquities 
of us all,' and we have also beheld, through the pro- 
cess of sanctification or healing, the hope of mercy 
restored to the human breast. No doubt, had the 
matter been left in the sinner's own hands, he would 
have been hopeless for ever. Looking within himself, 
he sees all in confusion — all his conceptions of God are 
comfortless, yea fountains of terror. Looking without 
him to his own life, he sees everything he has done 
and is doing daringly defiant of his Creator. Look- 
ing to Sinai, he hears the thunder, and sees the light- 
nings of the Lawgiver's holiness ; and looking to God, 
he sees no smile of appinDbation, and hears no accent 
of love. How, then, can it be otherwise with him, than 
that he should be the victim of despair, so long as he 
has nothing else to look to, or will contemplate nothing 
else but himself and his own works? Still, despair 
ought not now to curse any son of man. AVhy? 
Because not only is it his privilege, it is his duty to 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 205 

look away from himself to the grace of God in Christ ; 
and v/henever he does so, he finds peace. God in 
Christ smiles upon him, speaks peaceably to him, 
offers him pardon,^ and invites him to fellowship. God 
in Christ explains to him that all this can be, and is 
done consistently with his truth and integrity ; and so 
soon as the sinner sees that it is done through the 
obedience and death of Christ, the hope that fled in 
the fall, returns in the faith of man. A faith's view 
of the bleedhig Lamb of God taking away not only the 
sins of the world, but his own sins, and casting them 
all ^ into the depths of the sea,' is the only sight that 
gives resurrection to the confidence of a guilty sinner 
in the willingness of God to pardon him. By this he 
makes the discovery that God is not his personal 
enemy — on the contrary, that God is his best friend, 
and has done for him what none but God could 
accomplish. How can such a view of God beget 
anything but love in his heart ? and where love pre- 
sides peace dwells. Yes, nothing but this conviction, 
that God loves us, and has so loved us as to send 
his only-begotten Son to die for us, can tranquillise 
the sin-stricken conscience. Nor is it a mere recogni- 
tion of God's love of benevolence that pacifies it; 
such could never bring peace; it is the clear 
apprehension of mercy flowing out of God to him 
through the righteousness of his Surety, that causes 
him to rejoice in God. Though still conscious of 
sin, he sees that an adequate satisfaction has been 



20t> THE HIDING PLACE. 

rendered, and that for him to fear either law or 
justice, now that he is ^hid in Christ/ is to be 
gratuitously tormented. His thoughts of God now 
undergo a complete change. He believes that he is 
no longer angry with him, but that his ^ anger is 
turned away.' His conscience speaks kindly to him, 
for the blood of Christ has purged it from the dead 
works that cried out against his life. The angels 
whisper love to him, and tell him that they are 
charged to minister to him as an heir of salvation, till 
they convey him home to his Father's house. And 
even the world no longer scowls ; he is at peace with 
it, and he permits not its cares or trifles to torture him 
any more. He desires it not, he fears it not; he 
is crucified unto it and it unto him. All those faces 
upon which formerly sat the look of indignation, the 
believer now sees luxuriant in smiles ; and hence he 
fears no more ; fearing no more, he fights no more, 
and fighting no more, he is at peace ; his weapons of 
war are laid aside, God's cause is espoused, and the 
rest of Jieaven begins. He glories now in the Peace^ 
maker, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

Ponder w^ell, reader, the infinite importance of 
cherishing those Idndly thoughts of God of which we 
have already spoken. So long as you entertain harsh 
thoughts of him, of his law, of his yoke, or of his Son 
Christ, you will war against him ; but whenever you 
believe that ' God is love,' and that in Christ he i& 
' reconciling the world unto himself;' so soon as your 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 207 

heart has melted under the matchless pathos of that 
scripture, 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so 
the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; for he knoweth 
our frame ; he remembereth that we are dust ; ' yea, so 
soon as you open your whole mind to the transcendent 
fascinations of that love which bled on Calvary, and 
which now pleads in heaven on your behalf, con- 
descending daily to your low estate, forbearing 
hourly with you in your constant shortcomings, and 
dispensing constantly to you the riches of his grace ; 
the shyness of diffidence, the hesitation of doubt, and 
the terror of despair all flee away, and peace with God 
reigns paramount. Why then is it that any sinner of 
mankind continues to war against his compassionate 
Father — that any can sit and listen to the melting 
overtures of his mercy, and yet cherish dislike to or 
hatred of him — that all who heai' the good tidings 
do not leap at one joyous bound into the arms of 
everlasting love ? O, if there be one greater mystery 
to the angels than another, it is, that even one foe 
to God can be. found among the children of men ! 
This, however, suggests a topic deserving of the most 
serious attention, as it lays us under still greater 
obhgations to our Creator, and makes us still more 
guilty if we despise or neglect them. Foreseeing the 
hardening effects of sin, and the certainty that even 
his love in redemption would be resisted by sinful 
men, God made suitable provision to meet the 
emergency 



208 THE HIDING PLACE. 

IV. Peace with God is restored through 

THE AGENCY OF THE HOLY GhOST. An apostle 

enumerates the fruits of the Spirit to be Hove, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance.' Here we see that ' peace ' is one 
of these fruits. Let us then take great care not to 
' grieve the Holy Spirit of God,' by overlooking his 
love in the matter of our salvation. He is God 
equally with the Son and the Father, and his share 
in our redemption must be understood to be equal 
with theirs. It was a great thing for the Father to 
devise the plan and consent to its execution in the 
person of his only-begotten Son. It was a great 
thing for the Son to consent to take our nature, and in 
it to bear the curse due to our sins ; but surely it was 
not less great in the Spirit to give his consent to the 
pardon of the guilty, which, had it been withheld (I 
speak as a man), must have been fatal to the proposal. 
He is the Author of the Bible ; for ' holy men of old 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' He 
is the Creator of our Lord's humanity; for it is 
written, ^ that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of 
the Holy Ghost.' He abides still with man on the 
earth, striving with him by word, and ordinance, and 
providence, ' convincing him of sin, and righteousness, 
and judgment,' carrying forward his sanctification, 
and making him triumphant over all his spiritual 
enemies, till he completes his hoHness, and then 
conducts him into the very presence of God. All 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 209 

this tlie Spirit has to do down to the day of judgment ; 
for with the church he must remain till the last mem- 
ber of the family has been born again unto God. 
Thus we come to the conclusion, that in mercifully 
providing such a heavenly teacher, quickener, com- 
forter, and guide, in the person of the blessed Spirit, 
we ai'e indebted to his operations for our comfort in 
religion, that is, for our peace with God. No doubt 
Jesus himself is in a very peculiar sense alone ' our 
peace;' but this is not enough. He has laid the 
foundations of amicable relations between God and 
the sinner in his sacrifice of atonement; but the actu^ 
formation and enjoyment of these relations proceed 
from the Spirit. ^It is the Spirit that quickeneth.' 
* No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the 
Holy Ghost.' Yes, Jesus is the ^Peacemaker,' 
inasmuch as by his cross he slays the enmity of the 
sinner's heart; but humbhng as it must be to our 
proud nature, there must be something more than 
this for the enjoyment of peace with God, just 
as we cannot be the better for the righteousness 
of Christ simply because he wrought it out for 
us ; to be the better of it, God must impute it, 
and we must submit to it, and by faith wear it, 
and continually make mention thereof. Even so, 
to enjoy this peace we must with all docility 
submit to the teaching of the Spirit upon the sub- 
ject, and, passive in his hands, allow him to mould 
our will and affections entirely into the likeness of 



210 THE HIDING PLACE. 

God. It is the Spirit alone that knows where Christ 
is to be found, and he leads the sinner to him, 
otherwise he should lose himself in the darkness of 
his own stupid imaginations. It is the Spirit that 
moves above the chaos of our ruined natures, and 
calls up all that is there to be renewed and re- 
established under his plastic hand. He is the 
harmoniser of all our thoughts with God's thoughts, 
and of all our ways with God's ways. He is the 
breaker up of the fallow ground, the sower of the 
seed, the giver of the dew unto Israel, and the divine 
influence that breathes upon all, and makes all 
contribute to the work of reconciling love. Finding 
two great conditions in the covenant of grace (besides 
those which Christ himself has ratified by his blood), 
namely, God's pardon and man's faith, he is the 
grand consummator of both ; he gives faith to man, 
and gets for him pardon from God through Christ ; 
and all this he does through the medium of his truth. 
He gives to that truth this high honour, that no peace 
is ever found except when it is kno^n and beheved. 
It is while reading there that he ' takes of the things 
that are Christ's and shows them to us.' As we look, 
he impresses, enlightens, and interests the mind ; and 
while the process on our side goes on of searching, 
thinking, and trusting, lovely, gentle, celestial peace 
takes possession. Lol it is there, there fresh from 
heaven, there fixed in the pardoned soul, there for 
ever. 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 211 

V. When peace with God is made, true 
PROSPERITY BEGINS. There were troublous times 
to Israel when the angel appeared to Gideon. The 
!Midianites were at war with them, and hence much 
confusion, unhappiness, and disaster. But a time 
of peace was foretold, and with it a period of pro- 
sperity; everything was to return to its proper 
channel; trade, agriculture, and religion were to 
thrive, and all the relative interests of the common- 
wealth. Some indeed think that one of the primary 
references in the name given by Gideon to his altar — 
Jehovah-Shalom — was to this. It has ever been, 
that war destroys the arts which flourish in the time 
of peace, and that while it is waged, there is no 
addition made to intellectual, scientific, or religious 
wealth. How impressively true is all this of the 
welfare of the human soul from the day of its revolt 
from God ! On the very commencement of hostilities 
everything went to ruin. Not only was the very soil 
cut up and made unprolific, and the fruits thereof 
blasted — not only were the elements of nature thrown 
into confusion — not only were the lower animals 
transformed into beasts and birds of prey, but human 
nature itself degenerated into something little short of 
fiendish — the immortal part flourished no more; it 
lost its best knowledge, its purity, its peace ; and 
instead of making advances towards perfection, was 
rapidly going down to the image of Satan. Was the 
soul a field upon which grew, in all their beauty and 



212 THE HIDING PLACE. 

fragrance, the flowers of original innocence? Did 
the river of God's pleasure run through that field, 
and water and fertilise it ? Did the ray of the divine 
favour gently rest upon and maintain their perennial 
exuberance? Did the dngel of God joyfully visit and. 
cull from its lovely pastures the sweet-scented herbs, 
and carry them to heaven as proofs of the Creator's 
diligence and love? Yes, it was indeed so. But 
when the hot and suffocating sirocco of sin blew over 
it, all this beauty withered away, and all the incense 
that arose from it became nauseous. The field was 
converted into a desert, where thorns and thistles 
grew rankly and fully. And was the soul of man a 
temple which reared its noble turrets to the skies, 
which in ingenuity was exquisite, in capacities power- 
ful, and in adaptation to its design complete ? Was 
its interior always lighted up with the glory of God, 
and did the high festivals of adoring piety distinguish 
all its services? Did God himself say of it, 
^This is my rest; here I will stay, for I do like it?' 
Yes : it was indeed so. But when the tocsin of 
war sounded, the Deity fled, and lo ! the windows 
were darkened, the service of the day was closed, the 
altar fell down, the worshipping priest rushed forth 
to blaspheme, and amid the roar of heaven's artillery 
and the fires of its indignation, the high towers 
thereof fell, and the stately edifice was a ruin. 

While sin continues unchecked, confusion and 
misery riot ; and had not the Lord of peace interfered. 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 213 

the suicidal conflict might have exterminated our race. 
But a truce was proclaimed. The parties met, and by 
breathing the hope of pardon, the process of, and the 
tendency to rebellion, were suddenly arrested. Man 
was melted into penitence, and embraced anew the 
God he had defied. And thus it is, that, inspired now 
with the hope of salvation, the soul begins again to 
cultivate her freedom. The peaceful husbandman 
labours where the demon of war ravaged — the ^ swords 
are beat into ploughshares, and the spears into prun- 
ing-hooks.' The wells of life again spring up in the 
desert — the Sun of Righteousness again rises — God 
himself again walks among the sweet-smelling mea- 
dows, and the whisper of the Angel of the Covenant 
is heard among the trees of the garden : ^ Rise up, my 
love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter 
is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear 
on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the 
fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with 
the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, 
my fair one, and come away.' Hearing this peaceful 
song, all the faculties of the soul live anew, and all the 
affections of the heart bound upwards to enfold their 
first love. Demon-like, these faculties had in apostacy 
despaired of reconciliation, and set themselves against 
their Creator, while these affections, conscious of a foul 
adultery, twined themselves more firmly about the 
loathsome body of sin. But, behold what a wonderful 



214 THE HIDING PLACE. 

power lies in the aeolian cadences of hope ! what al- 
mightiness slumbers in the warm breath of love ! In- 
stantly, when it is believed that ^ there is forgiveness 
with God that he may be feared,' the dogged rebel 
succumbs, and as snow in summer, opposition melts 
away. Yes, in the very day when peace is proclaimed, 
the temple of the soul rises from its ruins — the Divine 
Architect re-builds — the Deity takes up again his abode 
— the altar is raised — the fires again burn — the incense 
again smokes — music again fills the spacious arches, 
which ring with ancient hallelujahs. Busy, busy all 
the day, and busy, busy all the night, the ministers of 
the sanctuary ply their hands, till the whole edifice is 
re-constructed. The cope-stone is brought out and put 
on, and then hosannas roll like solemn thunder up to 
the ear of God. To drop all figure ; whenever a sinner 
is justified, adopted and sanctified, he is reconciled to 
God, and continues so till death. The interval is a 
time of peace — a blessed little millennium to his soul, 
during which he is growing in grace. There may be 
now and then skirmishes from remaining corruptions, 
but he fights against them, not against God. His war 
now is against his enemies, and as he is ever made 
more than a conqueror through him that loved him, 
so is war to a certain extent favourable to his prosperity. 
Such is the necessary consequence of his present im- 
perfect state, and surrounded as he is with so much of 
what is hostile to his spirituality. But an end to this 
strife is certain, and is at hand. Death ends it. The 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 215 

death of Clirist put an end to his humiHation, and 
secured his reign as the Prince of Peace. And so the 
death of Christ puts an extinguisher upon all the be- 
liever's corruptions, and secures his seat on the same 
throne. And if on earth, and in this tabernacle, such 
rapid strides are made in the useful arts by peaceful 
christians, with what inconceivable velocity must they 
progress in heaven, where no opposition is met, but 
where they are ever fascinated and invigorated by 
the presence of God, of angels, and of perfected spirits! 
Heaven is the temple of peace, and eternal life is the 
enjoyment of perfect peace ! Surely, then, the inhabi- 
tants therefore must not only be perfectly happy, but 
be for ever going forward to the perfection of the 
great and blessed God. 



CHAPTEE XI 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM : THE LORD OUR PEACE. 

PART II. 

* Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.' 

CoLOSSiANS iii. 15. 

It now remains that "we inquire into the special influ- 
ence which * peace with God ' wields over the heart, 
or into the great practical purposes which its residence 
there is intended and calculated to promote. These 
words of the apostle, ' Let the peace of God rule in 
your hearts/ emphatically instruct us here. Let us, 
first of all, ascertain their meaning. 

1. ^ The peace of God.^ These words describe the 
happiness of the believer. He is at rest, because his 
conscience teUs him he is pardoned for Christ's sake, 
and that his title to eternal life is made out for, and 
made over to him. God is now his friend — not that 
he was ever his enemy — but the believer now knows 
it — he knows that in the atonement God is pacified 
towards him, and he is pacified towards God. This 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 217 

knowledge he has by the Spirit's teaching; and hence 
the satisfaction it contributes to him is called ^the 
peace of God.' The words have by some been ren- 
dered — ' the peace of Christ.' because he is said to be 
^ our peace,' or peacemaker, by the sacrifice he made 
of himself for our sins. There is no essential difi'erence 
between the two. Indeed, to the whole of the persons 
of the Godhead, they may be very properly applied, 
inasmuch as the Father devised, the Son accomplished, 
and the Holy Spirit applies this peace. On these 
accounts, and simply because it can be obtained in no 
other way, and enjoyed by no man unless he receive 
it into his heart by faith, is it described by the apostle 
to be Hhe peace of God that passeth all understanding.' 
It is, and ever must be incomprehensible, how such a 
being as God should ever have thought so kindly of 
us, and how such as we should ever come to be upon 
such endearing and intimate terms of friendship with 
him. Being, however, God's peace, and not man's, 
we see how it is secured to us, and how it reaches 
at length perfection. Had it been an earth-born 
peace, and dependent on human works and aspects, it 
should have soon yielded to the solicitations of the world, 
and been shifting as the sands of the sea, or ebbing 
and flowing as its tides. Dwelling, however, in God 
himself, guarded by his holy word, and fed by the Spirit 
of peace, it can never either be removed or diminished. 
The peace of God, then, is just the sweet conscious- 
ness of his forgiving love, and the happy tranquillity 



218 THE HIDING PLACE, 

which is thereby maintained in the believing soul, 
together with the cheerful submission of all the intellec- 
tual, moral, and religious powers to his will and rule. 
2. ^ Let the peace of God rule^ This word rule was 
originally used to designate the official duties of the 
umpire or president of the Olympic games. He was 
sole judge or ruler among the wrestlers. He was, 
therefore, a kind of centre of influence ; and the con- 
sciousness that his eye was ever upon them, and that 
his word v,^as to be the law of adjudication, was a 
motive to energetic contention, and indeed the govern- 
ing idea in their minds throughout. In fact, it became 
to them, while in the games, a superior power to sup- 
press indolent dispositions, and prevent careless action. 
On the other hand, the eye of the umpire ever sur- 
veyed the arena, and his judgment decided the prizes. 
The apostle, then, may be understood as here giving a 
kind of personification to ^the peace of God,' or rather 
to the believing consciousness of its existence in his 
own heart. He represents this consciousness as an 
umpire or ruler, enthroned in the christian's heart, 
giving laws to all within it for the suppression of what- 
ever threatens to disturb this divine peace. His exhor- 
tation is just tantamount to this — as he who overcomes 
all the other gladiators keeps a steady eye on the 
umpire, and ever realises the prize to be given, so be it 
your concern to submit all that remains of evil, as well 
as all that has been produced by grace, to the fair and 
legitimate influence of the peace you enjoy, just that 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 219 

you may conquer to the end, and at the end get the 
crown of Kfe. In this interesting view of the passage, the 
spuitual blessing of peace is put by metonymy for the 
Author of that blessing. So that it is not the Prince of 
Peace himself, but the peace he produces, that we are 
taught to obey. The sense of this peace is to be the 
reigning power, and to it we must yield all due homage. 
3. ^In the heart.^ The heart is to be both the seat 
and the subject of this government of peace. The 
heart has been described to be ' the centre of person- 
ality, and the depository of the feelings,'* and, as such, 
it is the most appropriate place for the throne and 
the executive of the ' peace of God.' In many scrip- 
tures the heart is put for the whole inner man, and as 
that inner man is a rebellious kingdom, it seems fitting 
to all the ends of mercy, that in its very centre the 
antagonistic and pacifying sentiment of friendship with 
God should be established in full authority. It is in 
that very heart that sin has erected its dark throne, 
that deceitfulness ranges the entire region of sentient 
being, that ^the lusts which war against the soul' 
continue their conflict, and where, if they could, they 
would even yet displace God and re-seat themselves 
in power. The heart, therefore, is just the place where 
a spiritual administration of sufficient strength ought 
to be fixed for the suppression of these loitering and 
harassing foes ; for the working out of an irresistible 
counter-agency to sin ; for a terror to all incipient 
* Olshausen. 



220 THE HIDING PLACE. 

insubordinations, and for the encouragement of all 
friendly allies who are ready and able to love God 
and ' follow after holiness.' 

4. ^In your hearts^ — that is, in the hearts of chris- 
tians, or in renewed hearts. God's peace is not in the 
old heart, and, consequently, does not rule there. 
But in every one justified by faith that peace is found. 
In the old heart all is rebellion. When God is for 
peace, it is for war, because it does not know him. If 
it knew him as the God of mercy in Christ, it would 
hate him not a moment longer, and instead of loving 
what he hates, and hating -what he loves, it would take 
pleasure only in that by which he was glorified. It is 
not peace, then, but war, that rules in the^hearts of the 
wicked — they are conscious of having incurred God's 
indignation, and are in consequence the victims of 
terror — they are miserable ; and this sense of misery 
is so powerful that it governs them. They are its 
slaves, and under its influence are contending against 
God and his righteousness. 

Let all, then, who believe in Christ, and enjoy 
this peace, contemplate from this passage who and 
what is the king of their inner man, to what kind of 
government they are to surrender themselves, and 
what amount of homage they are to give to the happy 
sense of being at peace with God, which they now 
enjoy. We shall, in pursuance of this most interest- 
ing and practical view^ of the subject, submit the 
following important propositions. 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 221 

I. The peace of God kules, when it is made 

THE CENTRE AROUND WHICH ALL THE THOUGHTS 

OF THE HEART REVOLVE. A Centre of influence is 
a common expression, referring sometimes to the point 
of diffusion, and at others to that of attraction. It is 
the point of diffusing influence, in the case of the sui^, 
from which light issues ; or in the case of the throne, 
from which government proceeds ; and it is the point 
of attraction when, as a centre, the sun draws towards 
itself those heavenly bodies that revolve around it, or 
when the wisdom and clemency of the throne engage 
and fix the affections as well as the submission of the 
subjects. Hence astronomers speak of a centrifugal 
and centripetal power in the heavenly bodies — the 
power, namely, by which they either recede from, or 
are attracted to a common centre. It is then rather 
to the attractive or centripetal influence of the sense 
of God's friendship that we refer, when we speak of it 
as the centre to the thoughts of our hearts. The con- 
sciousness of this friendship is as a sun within the soul, 
not only illiuninating all its powers, but drawing them 
all to that orbit which keeps them constantly under 
its rays, and therefore always in their proper places. 
Away from such a peace, the understanding is dark- 
ened, but when brought into it, all there is light; 
every faculty is attracted to its perihelium, and blazes 
with solar effulgence. Who can associate with the 
absence of this peace anything but the grossest ignor- 
ance of God as a God of love and mercy, wicked 



222 THE HIDING PLACE. 

opposition to his law, contemptuous rejection of his 
gospel, and the death, in short, of all the spiritual 
powers of man ? But how changed does man become 
when he reads, thinks, reflects in the midst of the 
persuasion of God's merciful designs and doings! 
When he sits down in this position, he is instantly 
' clothed, and in his right mind.' Here he feels his 
way confidently back to the bosom of divine love ; 
here he is gently fascinated into the conviction that, 
notwithstanding all he has done against God, there is 
nothing in God against his pardon and acceptance ; 
here he comes to be made more and more willing, in 
the day of God's power, to do all and to be all that 
God would have him to be and to do : and here he 
lives and moves under those gracious experiences which 
raise him upwards to the enjoyment of still purer and 
happier existence. It is, therefore, clearly the duty 
and interest of all believers to abide near to the centre 
of attractive knowledge, authority and life. 

It is admitted that in the christian life there are 
difficulties. The best of men have natural repug- 
nancies to God and holiness ; and as for unbelieving 
men, they cannot lead such a life at all, just because 
they live entirely away from this peaceful centre. 
Hence they are driven to and fro by the merciless 
winds, and describe the wayward and wild track of the 
meteor rather than the steady revolutions of the planet. 
But let not even the friend of God be presumptuous 
or over-confident. Such was Abraham., and yet he 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM, 223 

could lie ; such was David, and lie could heinously 
sin ; such was Peter, and he could deny his Master. 
At such times they must have been off their axis — 
away from the centre of influence; therefore, they 
fell, and when they rose again, it was by the returning 
sense of God's loving-kindness, or by the attractions 
of the peace of the cross. The christian has much to 
do with his heart. He has to keep it ^with all 
diligence ' in the fear and love of God, and in zealous 
activity for the service of God. But none of these 
things can be done except within the circle of believ- 
ing sentiments and desires. Let him, therefore, in 
all circumstances, keep fast hold of his conviction 
that God is his best friend, and then he will find 
Christ's ' yoke to be easy and his burden to be light.' 
It is precisely from this point that the mystery of 
godliness discloses to his view its manifold beauties, 
which, in their turn, charm him with the discovery 
of the ^secret of the Lord.' It is by erecting his 
christian telescope from this platform, and commencing 
his studies here, that he never hesitates as to the 
quarter into which he should send his affections and 
his trust ; or, in general, as to the path in which he 
ought to walk. Procession follows persuasion here. 
Having taken such sublime observations of God, he 
at once moves forward, and has already gone far on 
his way; while those who have started from other points 
of thought and inquiry, stumble, and loiter, and never 
attain. All religion in the abstract has its beginning 



224 THE HIDING PLACE. 

in God, and all concrete religion, or religion operative 
in man, takes its rise from the apprehension of mercy 
in Christ. It is utterly in vain for the soul to attempt 
getting near to God otherwise than from this peace 
as the centre of attraction. Is success in reading 
possible so long as the alphabet is unlearned, or the 
summing up of a lesson in arithmetic likely, before 
numerals have been mastered? Can the barbarian 
comprehend the revolutions of the planets in ignorance 
of the laws of gravitation? Can the unphilosophic 
ploughboy discourse on the natural history of the 
mountain daisy, or of the different grasses that clothe 
the field, while the principles of botany are to him a 
dead letter ? Common sense says no to these queries ; 
and so it does also to this — can any sinner become or 
continue a christian who knows not or forgets the 
God of salvation, or who goes out to the practice of 
the great ethics of the gospel from any other centre 
than the ^ peace of God ' in his heart ? 

And here you have the explanation of two things 
that appear to some rather dark : the melancholy 
failures of those who appear to be in earnest in their 
efforts after vital Christianity, and the no less sad 
inconsistencies of many who are in reality the disciples 
of Christ. Every one of the former class fail, because 
they have not the peace of God ; they set out, but 
not from a centre — not from the conviction that God's 
friendship is the alpha of living religion, and that 
until they have it, they only stultify and stupify 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 225 

themselves, finding no comfort in the doctrines of the 
cross, and doing no good for him who died on it. On 
the other hand, the genuine believer may trace all 
contrasts in his life between profession and practice, 
belief and experience, to not precisely the same cause, 
but to one of a similar character. He goes wrong, 
when in the exercise of any sentiment or desire 
he sets oat away from the immediate conviction that 
God has reconciled him to himself. Other centres 
have been chosen, to the attractions of which he has 
yielded — the centres, it may be, of selfishness, vanity, 
presumption, routine, the force of example, the sense 
of shame, the fear of exposure, or the love of approba- 
tion. Hence every step he takes under such influence 
puts him in a still falser position, and draws him 
towards error. Before he regains his proper position, 
he must retrace every step, he must unbind and cast 
from him every such control, and set himself down 
again amid his enjoyments of ^ peace with God.' O 
how easy we should all feel the work of God to be, if 
we would only look at it, and go to it, and work in it 
from this happy sense of his friendship I What an 
amount of useless labour, what a world of confusion 
and perplexity it would save us ; what a heap of 
precious time it would redeem ; from what mortifica- 
tions and heart-sickening failures it would defend us ; 
and to what advanced stages of christian piety it 
would infallibly conduct us ! Let us see then that in 
this respect we give to ^ the peace of God^ the rule in 



226 THE HIDING PLACE. 

our hearts, by commissioning all the thoughts thereof 
to go out from under its meridian light. This is to 
begin at the beginning ; this is to transcribe the very 
letters of his love into every lesson of holy wisdom ; 
this is to put the elements of his religion into every 
working of the affections; this is to open up the 
fountain of his own power upon the earliest outgoings 
of the inner man, and to secure for them all, whither- 
soever they may be going, the strength that is in the 
Almighty arm. It is impossible to over-estimate the 
moral mightiness that is in this christian principle, 
that all we think, do, and say, should, in the very 
embryos of every thought, deed, and word, be placed 
under the attractions of this ruling power, seeing that 
thereby the germs of spiritual life are implanted in 
every one of them, that the incorruptible seed of 
God's word impregnates every one of them, and that 
therefrom they receive that centripetal power which 
regulates their onward movements, until they are 
found rejoicing in the very bosom of the Father of 
lights. 

II. The peace of God rules when it is made 

THE THRONE FROM WHICH THE HEART RECEIVES 

ALL ITS LAWS. In the figurative language of the 
Bible, the throne of God is said to be ^ in heaven,' 
from which proceed the laws by w^hich he governs 
the universe, superintending and controlling all crea- 
tures and all their actions. Nature, says the philoso- 



JEHOYAH-SHALOM. 227 

pher, is under the influence of certain fixed principles, 
the meaning of which must be, that the Creator allots 
every element in nature to its proper object, and fixes 
them in their proper place. The angels have their 
position around the throne of God. Him alone they 
serve ; that is, they are strangers to any influence 
except that which reaches them directly from God. 
They are so holy that it is impossible for them to feel 
any other authority. If they leave that position, it is 
to go on errands of love ; and so soon as their com- 
mission is executed, they are back again and in his 
presence. When violence is done to any of these 
la-ws, there is a convulsion and devastation ; and when 
any of the angels acknowledge another power, they 
become devils. Now, so it is with the heart of the 
christian. Laws are framed for its regulation, and 
the power that administers them is this 'peace of God.' 
If the christian wish to continue a loyal subject, he 
must allow his happy sense of this peace to rule him. 
From this, as from a throne, he must take his impulses, 
and the directions by which his whole conduct, inner 
and outer, must be regulated. He is forbidden to 
' consult with flesh and blood,' because this world 
unchristianises him, and expels him from the throne to 
which his loyalty is pledged. But to consult alone with 
the spiritual Ruler in his heart, he succeeds in every 
work to which he is devoted. From no other throne 
descends the influence that preserves him in the love 
and fear of God. Take it away; remove his belief in 



228 THE HIDING PLACE. 

God's friendship, and a reign of terror begins, which 
issues in all manner of evil. War against God and 
liis own soul is again proclaimed. When there is no 
hope in God, there is no authority from God. We do 
not obey what we hate, but that which we love and 
trust in we willingly serve. To be at peace with God, 
then, is the throne of power to the believing soul — 
it is irresistible, and issues laws which will be obeyed, 
and exercises vigilance which cannot be deceived. 
Apply this great truth, and you will find it by expe- 
rience to be true. 

Have you imcard fears ? Place them before this 
throne, and they disappear ; for how can they remain 
at one and the same time with a persuasion of God's 
loving-kindness ? Fear always obeys orders from 
such a quarter. A man cannot both tremble and 
rejoice in the Lord ; he cannot both love and hate — 
the one must displace the other. Surely fears only 
reside in an unpurged conscience. 

Have you inward lusts ? You have; but subjecting 
them to the sense of this peace crucifies them. For 
what believer can tolerate the motions of sin, who is 
continually under the impression that God hates sin, 
and loves holiness? God, he says, is the God of peace, 
and I have the peace of God within me ; therefore, far 
from me be that ^ abominable thing which he hates.' 
When Paul thought of inward corruption, he was 
wretched, but when he dragged it up to the throne, 
to the recollection of mercy, he exclaimed, ^ I thank 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 229 

God, who giveth me the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ.' Thus, in every case,, the believing 
recollection of God's wonderful love has sufficient 
power to ^crucify the flesh with its affections and 
lusts;' and this solves the mystery of the growing 
purity of frail man, ^ whose days are as grass.' 

Have you unstable affections towards God? Call 
them up, every one of them, to the very footstool of 
mercy, and they will receive such a commandment as 
will establish and fix them upon the Lord. To love 
God is the first and the great commandment ; but to 
know and beheve the love of God, for us is the only 
way now by which we can keep it. It is love that 
begets love. It was the love of God that originated 
the plan of reconciliation, and it is our approach by 
this love that constrains us to love him in return ' with 
pure hearts fervently.' Why then, O christian, do 
you complain of the coldness of your heart towards 
him ? You may have this coldness expelled, this ice 
within you broken up, and dissolved in the twinkling 
of an eye. Carry your frozen natures to the light and 
heat that stream from the assurance of God's being at 
peace with you. Meditate over again on all the steps 
of the mediatorial service, and specially recognise that 
*love of Christ which passeth knowdedge,' and you 
will soon experience an augmentation of gratitude 
which will win from you the exclamation, 'I will 
extol thee, my God, O King, and I will bless thy 
name for ever and ever;' ^for in the day when I 



230 THE HIDING PLACE. 

cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with 
strength in my soul.' 

' All thoughts, all passions, all delights, 
Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 
All are the ministers of this love, 
And own its sacred flame.' 

It was the thought of this love that converted thee at 
the first, penetrated all the depths of thy depravity, 
permeated all the recesses of thy deceit, swayed all 
thy master powers. Thy frozen heart no kindness 
could reach, but before this love it speedily became a 
living stream. Thou wert high and haughty, but it 
clothed thee with meekness ; thou wert avaricious, 
and it made thee munificent ; thou wert a miser, and 
it made thee rise rich in liberality — rich, and it made 
thee sit down poor in spirit ; thou wert a debauchee, 
and it made thee hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness ; thou wert an infidel, and it made thee a lowly 
and docile disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. If this love 
did this for thee when thou wert in thy sins, sm'ely 
its power must be tenfold greater now that thou hast 
dnink so deeply out of its cup. 

Have you little zeal for God? Your zeal has been 
cooling, just because it has wandered for a Httle from 
before the throne. Eecall and replace it beneath the 
sense of divine mercy, and you will be readj^ to say 
with the good man of old, ^ My heart is hot within 
me ; while I was musing the fire burned ; ' or with 
Christ himself in the agonies of atonement, ^ The zeal 



JEHOYAH-SHALOM. 231 

of thine house hath eaten me up.' Here, perhaps, 
we have the explanation of the dislike of many to 
sacrifice for Christ. Their zeal is small, because 
Hhe peace of God' does not rule in their hearts. 
If they would only give it the power, they would not 
remain another day inactive ; if they would only thus 
think, ^ He loved me, and gave himself for me,' zeal 
would be enkindled, and offerings would be multi- 
plied. It is not alone in the Lord's Supper that we 
are to remember Christ — we can do all his will in 
everything by always keeping him before our minds ; 
for this remembrance of him is just another mode of 
describing the throne that is erected in every believing 
soul, even Hhe peace of God;' and where such peace 
rules, their zeal for the Lord of hosts becomes great. 

Have you trials to bear? Analyse them in his 
presence, and you will not murmur ; for if he has 
endured so much on your account, you will feel that 
it is but a small thing for you to suffer on his. Read 
them by the light of this peace, and you will learn 
that they are blessings in disguise. Contemplate 
from this point the direction in which they carry you, 
and you will see that it is to a ^ more exceeding and 
an eternal weight of glory.' 

And have you duties to perform ? Have you daily 
to ^ grow in grace' — to please God in everything — to 
love all men, ' specially they that are of the household 
of faith' — to resist all manner of temptations — to 
prepare for death and judgment, and to be ' made 



232 THE HIDING PLACE. 

meet for the inlieritance of the saints in light ? ' then 
ever and strongly cherish within you the apostle's 
persuasion, that God ^ is able to keep that which you 
have committed to him against that day/ and that 
till then his 'grace is sufficient for thee, and his 
strength will be made perfect in weakness.' Banish 
far and for ever from you all doubt as to your per- 
sonal interest in new covenant love ; yea, just obey 
the scripture : ' Let the peace of God rule in your 
hearts ;' and then, whatever be the pressing duty, you 
will do it; whatever the temptation, you will over- 
come it ; whatever the sacrifice, you vdll make it ; and 
whatever be the amount or degree of all your obliga- 
tions, you will honour them all, and God will be glo- 
rified in them all. 

III. The peace of Gob kules, when it is made 

THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THE HEART DRAWS ALL 

ITS SUPPLIES. The peace of God is a great fountain 
of supply, from which come down many good and 
perfect gifts. As to their conversion, christians confess 
that they owe it to the work of the Holy Spmt, while 
their subsequent spiritual life is supported and made 
fruitful in holiness equally by his gi'ace. By the grace 
of God they are what they are, and by the grace of 
God they continue to be what grace made them. Now, 
the christian life has many hinderances to its purity 
and strength, its comfort and productiveness. Divine 
aid alone can cast up and remove these. In the Bible 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 233 

we are taught that the Spirit of God works in this 
direction, and works successfully ; and that the grace 
of Christ is ever made so sufficient, as that a free course 
is at length opened up for every genuine soul going 
Zionward. We are taught, moreover, that God's 
perfections and promises are all engaged in this 
work of sanctification, and continue to ensure the 
christian in successive victories over all his foes. 
In what, then, does the idea suggested by the above 
proposition, that Uhe peace of God' is this source 
of supply, differ from this plain and well-understood 
doctrine, that it is ' not by might, nor by power, but 
by my Spirit, saith the Lord?' There is in 
fact no essential difference between them. In the one 
case we say that ^ grace,' in the other that peace,' is 
the source of supply. This second view is figurative 
or allegorical, tracing divine influence to a mode of 
thinking about God as the friend of the sinner, or 
to that peace with him and with conscience which 
follows such a conviction. Having been inwrought by 
the Spirit, this conviction remains a source of spiritual 
strength, and when all other considerations fail to move 
the christian, this one, when properly handled, inva- 
riably succeeds. There is, indeed, no conceivable 
vicissitude in the life of faith for which this happy 
persuasion does not provide suitable s-upply. Take, 
for example, that which is perhaps the christian's most 
anxious concern, his progressive purity of mind and 
heart. It is already a settled point with him that he 



234 THE HIDING PLACE. 

must bear a far more striking resemblance to the 
likeness of his Father in heaven. He not only hears 
the call, ^ Be ye holy, for I am holy,' but he is deter- 
mined to comply with it. He has no idea of enjoying 
the friendship of God apart from such holy effort; and 
he has no idea of being able for such effort apart from 
the persuasion, that ^ the indignation of the Almighty' 
has passed away from him. To get quit, then, of his 
impmities, he must bring them to this fountain of living 
water; and as one thought after another rushes into his 
mind of God's most merciful provision for, and gracious 
complacency in him, these impurities are sunk under a 
sense of shame ; they are covered with confusion ; they 
flee away from the region of the heart, and, for the 
time, lofty and sanctifying contemplations of divine 
love exert a sublime ascendancy. How can the 
heart of a believer indulge in carnal delights, in un- 
chaste thoughts, at the very time that it draws water 
with joy out of this well of salvation ? Impossible ! 
This stream is living and pure, carries aw^ay in 
its flow all uncleanness, ^w^ashes throughly,' and 
makes white the interior of the new man. If, then, 
purity be (and purity is) the very strength of the 
christian, as well as his most beautiful ornament, it is 
evident he can have no source from which to feed and 
increase it, like to the consciousness of being at peace 
with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

For a second illustration, take the solicitude of the 
christian about the groivth of his faith. He is some- 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 235 

times tke victim of spiritual disquietude, and is so 
frequently overtaken by his enemies as to lose for a 
season his sight and sense of the gracious ruler in his 
heart — ^ the peace of God.' The voice of that ruler 
is not heard as it once was ; the touch of his pacifying 
sceptre is not felt ; and the influence of the charmer 
is weakened, if not withheld. Then it is that he is 
heard lifting up his voice, weeping, ' O my God, my 
soul is cast down within me!' In such a season, night 
overtakes him, his spiritual adversaries gain upon him, 
the weapons of his warfare are wrenched from him, 
and his hope of mercy well nigh disappears. But 
though wrestling, he is not defeated; and though 
comfortless, he is not despairing. In a happy moment 
for him, the memory of the past, like the faint echo 
of soft music, comes stealing over his spirit; he re- 
members God, God in Christ ; he recollects the Lamb 
of God — the blood of that Lamb — the infinite efficacy 
of that blood, and the pledge divine that makes this 
efficacy sure for his pardon and acceptance. To such 
reminiscences his fainting faith cHngs, and gradually 
raises itself up again to former power. In the con- 
fusion of some spiritual combat, he had just turned 
his eye from the umpire, and consequently the in- 
fluence that descends from the smiles and encourage- 
ments of that high authority, was lost. He had just 
for a small moment let slip from his mind that he was 
a child of God, and suddenly the old carnal confidence 
made a plunge to regain lost honour, and spiritual 



236 THE HIDING PLACE. 

weakness was the result. But, in a blissful instant, 
his look rested anew upon the tribunal of the Judge — 
even upon the mercy-seat— from thence he inhaled 
new vigour; then, springing to his feet, he seizes 
again ' the whole armour of God/ and puts his foes 
to rout. 

The delightful assurance, indeed, that God is at 
peace with him, and that he is at peace with God, 
carries the christian triumphantly to the end of his 
course on earth. There is not a weakness which it 
cannot strengthen ; not a temptation which it cannot 
disenchant ; not a sorrow which it cannot heal ; not a 
difficulty of any kind which it cannot solve ; not an 
enemy which it cannot defeat or slay ; and not a well- 
founded hope, whether as to this or another world, 
which it cannot realise. Herein lies the secret of all 
eminent piety. It is just in proportion as God's 
people keep the atmosphere clear around this bright 
orb of christian experience, that they ^quench the 
violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, out of 
weakness are made strong, wax valiant in fight, and 
turn to flight the armies of the aliens.' Hence, if you 
walk much in the paths of the just, you will find that 
they who are weak in their convictions of this peace, 
are comparatively sordid and useless behevers : often 
rather a damper than an accession to the church 
of which they are members ; having a gi'eater resem- 
blance to cumberers of the ground than to faithful 
husbandmen; and daily in imminent danger of bringing 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 237 

disgrace upon their religion and ruin upon themselves. 
It is in the day, and under the reign of conscious 
^ace, that christians themselves live and reign. If 
you wish, then, greatly to prosper, place yourselves 
under the sceptre of the King of Salem. This ruler 
in the new heart will take care that all things will 
contribute to your piety and your joy. You yourselves 
would often faint and fail, but he cannot permit any 
adverse interest to resist or gainsay his authority. His 
word is law ; his look is power ; and his despatches are 
decisive, for he is alone the judge. While, then, he 
gives the crown to christians, and maintains in their 
hearts the assurance that it is so, the remainder of the 
struggle on the grand arena of faith is prosecuted with 
increasing vigour, and constantly supplied with clearer 
convictions that in the • end complete victory awaits 
them. And thus it is that ' the peace of God rules in 
their hearts.' 

IV. The peace of God eules, when it is made 

THE pattern after WHICH THE HEART IS CON- 
FORMED. We are called upon to be ' followers of 
God as dear children,' and also to ' let the same mind 
be in us that was also in Christ Jesus.' Such injunc- 
tions are no doubt very comprehensive. They take in 
the wide range of all that is lovely in the divine 
character, and imitable in Christ's. Applied to the 
present subject, we are at liberty to think of them 
in connection with that influence which God, as 



238 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the God of peace, exerts upon our tempers and dis- 
positions towards our feliow-cliristians and fellow- 
creatures. The injunction of the apostle, indeed/ 
stands in this connection : ' Put on/ he exhorts, ' as 
the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, 
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and long- 
suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one 
another.' This beautiful exhortation is then wound 
up with an appeal ^ to the peace of God' as that 
which ought to rule and govern us in the cultivation 
of such christian virtues, or as the great example 
according to which, in their practice, they should be 
conformed. 

Now, a peaceful temper is placed high in the Bible 
catalogue of christian attainments. The peacemakers 
are said to be blessed, and they are called ' the children 
of God.' To be consistent, then, with their filial rela- 
tionship to God, as the God of love and peace, they 
must be the children of peace; cherishing towards 
each other the kind, forbearing, and forgiving temper 
which God has manifested towards them. Tempers 
of an opposite character cannot dwell in justified and 
pacified bosoms — cannot rule where the God of peace 
reigns. Occasionally, when under the influence of 
sudden irritation, temper may get the better of them ; 
rash and threatening words may escape, and even 
revengeful deeds may be done ; but these are the 
infirmities that prove them to be as yet fallible 
creatures — infirmities of which they have no sooner 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 239 

been guilty than they repent and make reparation. 
No child of God can remain long in sullen passion^ or 
keep up a system of vile suspiciousness or annoyance 
against others. Yea, rather, when they are for war, 
he is for peace. Being at peace with himself, and 
especially with God, his natural propensities undergo 
perpetual chastening and discipline from the meek 
and lowly Jesus. To be of a bad and quarrelsome 
temper is still to be under the dominion of sin : to be 
imcharitable, cruel, selfish, unforgiving, and revenge- 
ful, is to be the child of passion and the slave of 
the devil. Hence these things cannot give any 
permanent character to christians who are all more 
or less under that charity which ^ sufFereth long and is 
kind, which envieth not, vaunteth not itself, and is 
not puffed up ; which doth not behave itself unseemly, 
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh 
no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
truth ; which beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things.' All this is 
true in reference to the christian's ordinary bearing 
towards his fellow-creatures, but emphatically true 
when directed to his brethren in the Lord. ' Behold 
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity,' was the testimony of godliness 
under t^he old dispensation ; and ^ Behold how these 
christians love one another,' exclaimed they of the 
* fulness of the times.' And is it not most befitting that 
all they of the household of faith should be also of the 



240 THE HIDING PLACE. 

family of peace and love — that every one of them 
should be beautiful and characteristic illustrations of 
the Saviour's school of kindness, so that when reviled, 
they revile not again ; when smitten on the one cheek, 
they turn the other also ; when compelled to go one 
mile, to go two ; when sued for their coat, to give their 
cloak also ? Yes, it is true ; the children of this 
peace love their enemies, ' bless them that curse, do 
good to them that hate, and pray for them that 
despitefully use and persecute them.' It is their high 
distinction to forgive their brethren who offend them, 
not for seven times, but ' until seventy times seven ;' 
and it is their precious privilege thus to pray, ^ for- 
give us our debts as we forgive our debtors.' 

It is a wonder to many, how christians manage 
to keep their hearts and minds in such an equable, 
tranquil, and charitable condition, with such an infirm 
nature and in such a tormenting and provoking 
world as this. Let the wonder cease in contemplat- 
ing the rule of their faith and the pattern of their 
manners. None were so vile as they themselves once 
were, and yet even God has forgiven them. This is 
a conviction that has power with them, and prevails 
to tame the fiercest spirit. Even yet they must be 
borne with every moment ; and however easily pro- 
voked before, they become more and more meek, yea, 
dumb under every discovery of such condescension. 
They have been enriched solely out of God's long- 
suffering, and are therefore increasingly filled with 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 241 

admiration of his munificent love. They have been so 
gently dealt with all over and all along, that however 
obstinate and hardened once, they now know the glad 
transition from darkness to light, fr'om hate to love, 
from being the veriest slaves of vice into the beatitudes 
of saintship, and from the lowest depths of moral 
madness to the comely high places of right-minded 
and heavenly-minded men. The happy consciousness 
of all this exerts such a mighty authority over them, 
that they pant after conformity, in their entire social 
temperament, to the character and conduct of God. 
Yes, what can it be but this delicious sense of God's 
mercy to them that transforms them into his likeness? 
They make his treatment of them the pattern of their 
treatment of others, and their growing appreciation of 
his unparalleled pity, silently but surely helps on the 
process of assimilation. If, then, you would taste the 
sweetness of a placid temper, of a gentle spirit, of a 
benign disposition, if, in one word, you would be like 
the great and blessed God, be reconciled to him in 
the first instance ; let the war betwixt you cease, and 
determine to believe that, for Christ's sake, all your 
abominable sins have been freely pardoned ; convince 
your conscience that all spiritual blessings are now to 
flow towards it, that its guilt is cancelled and its 
pollution washed out in atoning blood ; yea, settle the 
whole matter between God and you, and settle it 
amicably on the ground of Christ's righteousness; and 
after you have done all this, you will feel the irritable 



242 THE HIDING PLACE. 

element ousing out of your nature, a holy calm 
breathed through your soul; or, in a word, that ^the 
peace of God rules in your hearts.' It is variance 
with God that certifies quarrels among men. While 
not reconciled to him, they will not be reconciled to 
one another; but when they accept of his mercy, 
they are both disposed and qualified to show it to 
others. For, whatever other prescriptions moral 
physicians may give your vile tempers, this is the 
only one that is effectual. Be at peace with God 
first, and peace with all men follows. The gentle and 
forgiving spirit is just a copy of redeeming love. Let 
us then pray that ' the God of peace, who brought 
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great 
Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, may make us perfect in every 
good work to do his will, working in us that which is 
well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to 
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.' 

One important observation remains. Li making 
^ the peace of God ' their pattern, christians feel them- 
selves under powerful obligations to publish the tidings 
of salvation to the whole world. What they have felt 
to be so precious, all men need ; and what has been 
bestowed upon them so freely, they will freely give. 
God loved the world — so will and do they ; God so 
loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to 
die for its sins, and they so love the world that they 
engage in every proper enterprise for the diffusion of 



JEHOVAH-SHALOM. 243 

the glorious intelligence. God made no distinction of 
tribes and tongues, neither do they ; they preach the 
gospel ^to every creature.' God's pity was for the 
very chief of sinners, and theirs goes down as far and 
extends as wide. What God has done in finding a 
Saviour for man, they cannot do ; but they can and 
they do offer that Saviour to all the ends of the earth. 
Their love to the lost of their race is quickened and 
enriched by their own delightful experience of their 
heavenly Father's mercy ; and what they have found 
to be so sweet, they desire to share with all the rest 
of the family. Thus though they do not in the strict 
sense of the word become saviours, yet do they con- 
tinually carry about the Saviour with them, and 
thereby shed the blessings of his redemption on every 
hand. And w^hy? Because they wish to please 
God. To please him is their highest attainment, and 
they know that the surest way to do this, is to carry 
out his merciful designs on our fallen world. They 
are absolutely certain to please him by falling in with 
his redemption plans, and strenuously and sincerely 
working them out along with him. In this they are 
making his mind their mind, his love their love, his 
mercifulness their mercifulness, and his glory their 
life ; so that, not only is he their pattern, but they 
actually become partakers of the divine nature by 
profound sympathy with God in the salvation of 
precious souls. But they also wish to satisfy Christ. 
To satisfy his soul is an attainment equal in gran- 



244 THE HIDING PLACE. 

deur and importance to tlie pleasing of God ; and they 
are convinced that they must succeed in this, if they 
only persuade men, by the riches of his love and the 
preciousness of his blood, to embrace him as their all- 
sufficient Saviour. They are as sure of satisfying 
that soul ; and O how they long after it ! — that soul 
which was once agonised with mysterious spiritual 
travail — when they thus drink into his spirit, as if 
they were already casting their own crowns at his feet 
in the sanctuary above. And in all this they are 
making his mediatorial power their own, not by 
rightful possession, but by merciful application ; his 
blood is their blood, his righteousness their righteous- 
ness, his interest in the perishing their interest, and 
his joy in their return their own chief good ; so that 
not only is he too the pattern after which they are 
fashioned, but they really become absorbed in him, 
and lose their identity in his mighty enterprise of 
reconciliation and eternal life. 



CHAPTER XII. 



JEHOVAH-NISSI: THE LORD MY BANNER. 

PART I. 

* And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah- Nissi.' 

ExoD. xvii. 15. 

The occasion on which Moses built the altar which 
he named ^ Jehovah-Nissi' is memorable in the history 
of the Israelitish wars. The. battle was with Amalek 
in the vale of Eephidim. While it raged, Moses was 
upon the top of the adjacent hill. He held in his 
liand the rod by which he had done so many wonder- 
ful things in the land of Egypt. In this he acted 
as standard-bearer to the army ; for when he raised 
his arm, Israel prevailed, and when he let it fall, 
Amalek. At the going down of the sun, the hosts 
of Jehovah gained the victory, to celebrate which, 
the altar ^ Jehovah-Nissi,' or ' the Lord my Banner,' 
was reared. Though applied to the altar, however, 
its strict reference is to Jehovah himself, and signifies 
that not to Joshua or his soldiers, and not even to 



246 THE HIDING PLACE. 

Moses and his intercession, is the victory to be 
ascribed, but to God alone — he, and he only is the 
banner of his people ; which means^ that he is the 
^Captain of their salvation,' not only, as we have 
seen, at their first entrance into the armies of the 
living God, and in the gracious discipline and training 
to which they are subjected, but to the very end of 
their warfare. He fights for them all their battles, 
and he wins for them all their victories. He has the 
credit of beginning it, and he will have the glory of 
ending it. The salvation of the soul is Christ's work 
throughout. Pie digs it out of the pit, and he sets it 
down upon the throne. He clothes it at first with 
the best robe, and at the last with life and immor- 
tality. He is the banner before which all their 
enemies flee away, and underneath which they con- 
tend in safety and with success. Thus, the first idea 
suggested by this title is, that divine protection, or 
grace, is given to those who have been first justified, 
then healed, and then reconciled. Having begun 
the good work in them, he will perfect it. And he 
does perfect it. None are ever ^plucked out' of his 
hands. But for his being on their side, every weapon 
formed against them should prosper, and every en- 
gagement should be a lost one, for, saith the prophet, 
^When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the 
Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard (a banner) 
against him ;' and again, ' The Assyrian shall pass 
over .to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 247 

be afraid of the ensign (the banner), saith the Lord, 
whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.' 
The altar ^ Jehovah-Nissi' was thus an emphatic 
exponent of the presiding idea of that sublime psalm 
beginning, ^God is our refuge and our strength;' 
and Solomon poetically places the same thought 
before the mind when he says, ' he brought me to the 
banqueting-house, and his banner over me was 
love.' Upon other banners might be seen devices 
unsightly or ferocious; on this, a Saviour's love — a 
love which is omnipotent against all our enemies, and 
justifies the argument of the apostle, ' If God be for 
us, who can be against us?' It Is of great impor- 
tance to christians to have this doctrine wrought into 
their minds. It fills them with courage, and they 
need it ; it animates them with hope, and they pant 
for it ; it blesses them with Adctory, and they celebrate 
it for ever. Having, therefore, in the former chap- 
ters, seen the strong foundations laid, above which all 
believing sinners are raised to pardon, purity, and 
peace, let ns follow up the discussion by cheering 
them onward in what remains of their life of faith. 
No higher source of encouragement can be presented 
to them than this, ^ Jehovah-Nissi ' is their banner — 
their shield — their high tower ; ^ the Lord of hosts is 
on their side.' In a word, everything God is, and 
everything God does, are made to float over them and 
their interests, while fighting in this Rephidim, as so 
many ensigns which cheer, and rally, and embolden 



248 THE HIDING PLACE. 

them, until their warfare has been accompHshed. 
Let us illustrate this idea — 



I. The attkibutes of God are banners to his 
PEOPLE. It is indeed a splendid thought that the 
church has a banner in each one of the divine perfec- 
tions. These perfections were all oifended with man 
in the fall of the first Adam, but they are all reconciled 
in the rise of the second. Christ's death ranked them 
again on our side. Therein we see them vieing with 
each other to secure our happiness and life. O it w^ere 
an high honour, an unassailable security, to have the 
friendship of even one of God's wonderful perfections ; 
but how much more high that honour, and how much 
more unassailable that security, when we know that 
they are all pledged to our interests ! No doubt the 
Redeemer is our great advocate with the Father, but 
it derogates not from this honour to say, that through 
his advocacy every perfection of the Godhead becomes 
a willing intercessor for the liberty and life of behevers. 
Now, when we think of the greatness and purity of 
these divine attributes, in contrast with our un worthi- 
ness and meanness, it appears not at all probable that 
they should be thus engaged. But though not pro- 
bable, God be praised it is true. 

Divine wisdom is our banner. Thrilling considera- 
tion! The same perfection which garnished these 
beautiful heavens, and which hung up and arranged 
in order all the shining lamps of the firmament — 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 249 

which gave being to the universe — ^adjusted all its 
parts — constituted its systematic relations, and curi- 
ously wrought its diversified wonders' — is now friendly 
to man ! Let them doubt it who have not heard of 
the scheme of salvation, and of all the means of grace 
by which this God, who is our God, opposes the sub- 
tlest wiles of our enemies — by which he counsels us 
in every extremity — leads and instructs us in the way 
we should go — sets life and immortahty before our 
eyes, and causes us to know experimentally ' what is 
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory 
of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceed- 
ing greatness of his power towards them who believe.' 
Divine justice is our banner ! a truth not only cal- 
culated to rejoice our hearts but to call forth our amaze- 
ment. Is not justice that attribute which is termed 
inflexible — which abates nothing of its claims — and is 
the stern and inexorable advocate of the divine honour 
and sovereignty? yet we see even it stepping forth 
to plead for sinners — for those who, by bold and un- 
holy aggressions, had dared its indignation, and laughed 
at the sheen of its sword. Yes, this is also true — this 
same attribute which could not pardon sin without an 
atonement, cannot now refuse to vindicate our cause ; 
for all its claims against us have, by the propitiation 
of Jesus, been fully and honourably settled. This 
indeed is comforting, but it requires great faith. Let 
your faith then rest on this, that the same perfection 
which gave Christ a bitter cup, and abated not to 

Q 



250 THE HIDING PLACE. 

him one drop of the wrath wliich it contained, which# 
attended him closely to the cross, and laid him as its 
victim on that mysterious altar, and which did not 
quit him for one moment tDl it saw the pale ensigns 
of death spread over his cheek, and heard his expir- 
ing voice exclaim in agony, ^It is finished' — that 
this same perfection will see to it, that the believer 
shall not want one of the blessings of the covenant, 
and that amid all the conflicts and fires of this mih- 
tant scene, not one hair of his head shall be touched. 
Hear it, O Israel, the sword that smote the shepherd 
was for the sheep. 

_ Divine holiness is our banner. To nature this is 
scarcely credible. God cannot look upon sin, much 
less have communion with the guilty; and still is it 
true that the High and Holy One, who inhabiteth 
the praises of eternity, dwells with the contrite and 
the humble. As wisdom discovered a fountain, and 
as justice struck it with its sword, and gave vent to 
its cleansing waters, so it is the part of holiness to 
carry its people to these waters, that they may be 
washed from all their uncleanness. This perfection 
is for us, not to countenance or take part in our 
sins, but to deliver us from them ; to make us white 
as snow, though our sins be as scarlet ; to make them 
as wool, though they be as crimson. Holiness knows 
that, in the day of the Lord, she has to present his 
people to him without spot or blemish; and also 
to introduce them into a temple filled with the 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 251 

•divine purity, into which nothing that is unclean can 
enter ; hence is she continually diligent to ' wash 
tlieir robes, and make them white in the blood of 
the Lamb,' that they may be all ready to go into his 
marriage supper. 

Divine power is our banner. Here indeed is a 
^hiding place,' wherein neither broken law nor in- 
sulted justice can find us; or, if they should seek and 
find us here, it could only be to forgive and bless us. 
Yea, herein hid, we need not fear ^ though the earth 
be removed, and though the mountains be carried 
into the midst of the sea ; though the waters thereof 
roar and be troubled, and though the mountains 
shake with the swelling thereof: God is our refuge 
and our strength.' The power which upholds worlds 
wdthout number, which confines suns, and moons, 
and stars to their orbits, which equalises the distance, 
and prevents the collision of the heavenly bodies — 
which rules in the armies of heaven, and binds rebel 
angels with the chains of darkness — which over- 
whelmed the old world in the flood, and destroyed 
the cities of the plain with fire — even that same 
power is our defence ; it is exerted on our side to 
subdue our enemies, and advance all our interests; 
hence we sing, ^They that trust in the Lord shall 
be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but 
abideth for ever ; as the mountains are round about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people;, 
from, henceforth, even for ever,' 



252 THE HIDING PLACE. 

In a word, divine mercy is our banner. And can 
it indeed be, the gentle reader asks, that this God, 
whom I have so heinously offended, will be merci- 
ful to such a worm — to such an ingrate as I am? 
Blessed be his merciful name that we are permitted 
to reply, ^ The Lord is a God full of compassion, and 
gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy.' If 
we may use the language, there are none of the 
divine perfections upon which so much is drawn — 
none which has so uninterruptedly to be in exercise 
on our behalf. If Mercy were but for a moment to 
hide her lovely countenance, or to hush her pleading 
voice, that would be a fatal moment to us all; for 
then Justice would let fall her sword. "VYhat a bless- 
ing, therefore, that we, who are so full of infirmities, 
should have to deal with a God who is so full of 
mercies! All praise be to the mercy of Jehovah; 
to mercy^ our availing and incessant advocate in the 
Godhead! Lift up your eyes to the heaven of 
heavens, and behold this beauteous seraph at her 
work. Are we every instant dishonouring the majesty 
of God? See, she reconciles us and secures our par- 
don. Does Justice frown ? Mercy points her to the 
Lamb on the throne, and Justice smiles. Is Holiness 
offended? Mercy points her to the blood of atone- 
ment and Holiness is appeased. Does Power shake 
his sceptre in indignation ? Mercy points him to the 
victory of the cross, and Power recalls his anger. Does 
the law ciy for an honoured and perfect obedience ? 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 253 

Mercy points to the sufficient righteousness of Christ, 
and the law smiles over the bright and shining robe 
which so gentle a hand hath thrown over the 
offender. Does Mercy herself become displeased? 
Does she turn? does she repent? and is she about 
to forsake ? No, God be thanked. . She herself looks 
once more at the cross, and once more cries out to 
her people, ^ In a little wrath I hid my face from thee 
for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I 
have mercy on thee !' For all our sins mercy obtains 
pardon, ^ for mercy reaches unto the clouds ;' for all 
our shortcomings mercy obtains forgiveness, ^for mercy 
endureth for ever;' for all our sorrows mercy finds a 
balm, for ' his mercy is over all his works.' 

II. The providences of God aee banners 
TO HIS PEOPLE. The providence of God is both 
special and general; but to whichever class they be- 
long, all his providences are on his people's side. 

Tliis is true of the special providences of God, No 
doubt his people, in reference to their worldly circum- 
stances, are often poor and unhappy. Of many of 
them the uttermost that can be said is, that their 
bread and their water are sure; but of what are 
deemed the comforts and luxuries of life, they know 
nothing. They are generally also an afflicted people ; 
tears run down their cheeks, and the voice of their 
lamentation ascends, ^ Many are the afflictions of the 
righteous.' But shall we suppose that these arrange- 



254 THE HIDING PLACE. 

inents are against them? By no means. If tlieir 
lot in the world be tribulation, we are assured that it 
will work, and does ^work out for them a more 
exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.' Their 
trials and privations are all manifestations of God's 
pai^ental regard; hence in every event of their life 
a blessing i& lodged — some precious pearl is secreted. 
It is certainly highly honourable to them, that how- 
ever much disregarded they may be by the great and 
the mighty of the earth, over their short but simple 
annals Jehovah himself is ever watchful — that whether 
by night or by day, his eye is over them — whether 
they are asleep or awake — in the house, or in the 
field, the Shepherd of Israel preserves them from evil ; 
that while enthroned monarchs lie down encompassed 
by walls of security, and ministered to by thousands, 
they are far more secure ; for the Lord sustains them, 
and they need not be afraid though ten thousands of 
people set themselves against them round about. It 
is also most dignifying to their character, and blissful 
to their condition, that no event of their lives, how- 
ever comparatively trifling, is absolutely without its 
beneficial influence. Circumstances that pass un- 
noticed, and that are, in reference to worldly men, 
unworthy of notice, start into importance when 
they occur in the lot of the righteous, inasmuch 
as they are freighted with some little good to their 
souls. This must be so, else our Lord's account 
of the ^ fall of the spai'row,' and the * numbering 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 255 

of the hairs of our heads,' loses much of its force. 
You have seen the acorn drop, as if by accident, from 
its parent branch ; you have seen it raised and carried 
by the whirlwind into some adjacent streamlet ; you 
have seen it now playing on the surface of the water, 
now hiding in the crevices of the bank ; you have 
seen it sucked into and hurried over the cataract, then 
lodged in the dark cavern, or mid the foaming surge ; 
anon, you have seen it emerge from the boiling caul- 
dron, and dashed with the spray on some adjoining 
field — there it is embedded in the soil, and after many 
years it becomes a lofty oak, whose branches ^ stretch 
their longing arms afar.' In like manner, it not unfre- 
quently happens that, many years afterwards, an event 
which was almost unnoticed when it occurred, is 
remembered by God's people as seen in the light of 
other events, and then perceived to have been either 
the beginning to a train of effects of great importance, 
or the connecting link of others from which it must 
have been injurious to their best interests to have 
been dissociated. How strikingly is all this illustrated 
in the history of Joseph, Moses, and David, and in- 
deed of all the people of God, of whatever age or land, 
if their history were but written ! 

But the general as well as the special providences 
of God are banners to his people. Not only in the 
smaller circle of their domestic affairs, and in the more 
extended one of their domestic relations, but as mem- 
bers of society at large, everything is systematised for 



256 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and directly bears upon their welfare. A propitious 
influence is carried to their interests, both from the 
comparatively trivial occurrence that is no sooner done 
than forgotten, and from that more momentous event 
v^hich shakes society to its centre, which convulses 
the continents of the earth, which is written in the 
chronicles of nations, and remembered by mankind in 
every age. The thought, indeed, is sublime, and 
almost overwhelming, that the vast system of super- 
intendence which Jehovah exercises over the whole 
globe has a pointed reference to the good of his chosen 
children. The edicts of kings, and the acts of poten- 
tates — the wisdom alike and the tyranny of their laws 
— the rise equally with the ruin of their empires — are 
all overruled for their good; so that it is all one to them 
whether thrones and principaUties are shaken to their 
foundations, or more firmly secured. If, as subjects, 
they rejoice under a mild and forbearing administra- 
tion, and are in possession of every civil privilege ; 
if, as christians, they are blessed with religious as well 
as civil liberty — they owe it all to that Providence 
who has the hearts of the kings and senators of the 
earth in his hand. If, on the other hand, they are 
persecuted and hunted like the partridge on the 
mountains ; if the sun shine not on them, and dark- 
ness becloud their prospects : if opposition from men, 
if temptations and suggestions from Satan, if wants 
and weaknesses, if internal conflicts and griefs, and 
the long, long train of worldly tribulations, pour out 



JEHOVAH-NISST. 257 

upon them their stores of tempest, and fill then* souls 
with dismay — still even these providences must be con- 
fessed to be for their good. ' We dare not say that even 
in these there is any superfluous severity, that in this 
constitution of things there is any needless or uncalled 
for trouble. Adversities never befal them without a 
cause, nor are sent but on a proper errand. These 
storms are never allowed to rise, but in order to dispel 
some noxious vapours, or restore the salubrity of the 
moral atmosphere. 

But, in fine, he takes a narrow and unbecoming 
view of providence, who supposes that its dispensa- 
tions act independently of, or in separate detachments 
from, one another. This undervalues also the high 
honour and privilege of believers. For their good, 
all the events of providence act in unison — they co- 
operate. This is mysterious ; but it is true that the 
whole of these events, far and near, great and small, 
are acting in concert for their good. It has been 
beautifully said, ^ Taken separately or individually, 
it may be impossible to see that they are connected, 
but they must be viewed in their consequences and 
effects, in their dependencies and connections, as com- 
ponent parts of one gigantic system — as links hang- 
ing together of one extensive chain. For, it is by 
adjusting into one consistent whole the various events 
that fill up human life — it is by arranging in the 
happiest succession all the occurrences of that com- 
plicated scene, and it is by bending to his own pur- 



258 THE HIDING PLACE. 

pose, things which appear most opposite and contrary, 
that Jehovah accomphshes his harmonious schemes 
for the good of his own. As in a physical composi- 
tion, made up of many ingredients of different quali- 
ties, these ingredients, if taken singly, would do no 
good, or perhaps do injmy, but if mixed together by 
a skilful hand, may be productive of much benefit, 
so here it is not one part of providence that works 
out the spiritual good, but the whole of them together 
being mutually connected, influenced, and assisted. 
Or, as all the rivers on the face of the globe, how- 
ever circuitous they may be in their progress, and how- 
ever opposite in their course, meet at length in the 
fathomless abyss of the ocean, and there contribute to 
increase the mass of waters, so all the seemingly dis- 
cordant events in the life of a good man are made to 
preserve, upon the whole, an unerring tendency to 
his good, and to conspire for promoting it to the last 
moments of his life.' ' The Lord reigneth ; let the 
earth rejoice.' Such, O believer, is that great edifice 
of encouragement and hope which the gospel hath 
reared up for those whom God loves, and on whose 
side his purposes and perfections are engaged. 

III. The grace of God is a banner to his 
PEOPLE. Do we look back into the ages of eternity? 
we see grace proposing the plan of mercy, and 
accepting of the offer of the eternal Son to be the 
surety of sinners. Do we review the former dispensa- 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 259 

tion? grace was their banner during its different periods 
downwards. God then kept them as the apple of his 
eye, and established his covenant with them, ^even 
the sure mercies of David ;' and when the fulness of 
the times was come, Grace was gloriously displayed in 
the mission of the Son into our world. For the sake 
of his people, God spared him not, but delivered him 
up for them all. For their sakes, God ^ bruised him 
and put him to grief.' And why w^as so dear a Son 
brought to such a low estate ? Why was he tempted 
in the wilderness ? Why was he agonised in Geth- 
semane, buffetted in the hall, nailed to a cross, and 
laid in a grave? In all this you see God's grace 
working out the salvation of his people; and the 
same grace that suggested and accomplished the amaz- 
ing scheme, was exerted on the morning of the ap- 
pointed day, to give attestation to its being perfect in 
the resurrection of the Lord ifrom the dead. Grace for 
his people ! was the voice which burst from Joseph's 
sepulchre, when the angel rolled away the stone, 
and the risen Saviour stood triumphant over death 
and the grave. Grace for his people ! was the shout 
with which he ascended up on high, ^leading captivity 
captive, and receiving gifts for men.' Grace for his 
people ! was the loudest hosannah of heaven, when its 
gates of glory were opened, and the King of glory 
entered. Grace for his people ! were the joyful words 
that fell from his lips, as he took his seat on the 
august throne which had been prepared for him from 



260 THE HIDING PLACE. 

the foundation of tlie world. Grace for his people ! 
is engraved in letters of love around the mediatorial 
crown ; and grace for his people ! is the voice which is 
continually heard issuing from the glorious Shechinah 
in the innumerable gifts and blessings which are 
showered down upon them. Yea, for their sakes 
Jehovah has constituted his throne a throne of grace, 
his sceptre a sceptre of grace, and his government an 
administration of grace. In the temple above there 
is now erected an altar, of grace ; standing before it 
there is a Priest of grace, who continually intercedes 
for them, that thej receive grace upon grace. O had 
we the power, but for a moment, willingly should we 
draw aside the vail of the inner sanctuary, and show 
you that all heaven, though full of glory, is but one 
fountain of grace to believers, the streams of which 
descend to make glad the city of our God. But why 
need we enlarge, for are not all the people of God 
just the monuments of his grace? By that grace 
they are what they are. It found them in the deep 
pit, and raised them from it. It found them bleeding 
in the open field, and pitied and bound up their 
wounds. It found them in the power and under the 
chain of Satan, and it gave them liberty. It found 
them weak — it made them strong. It found them 
polluted — it made them holy. It opened their eyes, 
and cars, and moutlis — it made them leap like the 
hart, and rejoice like the strong man to run a race. 
It clothed them in the comeliest garments — the 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 261 

rio"liteousness of Jesus. It conformed their souls to 
the loveKest image — ' the image of the invisible God.' 
It adopted them into the family of God. It put 
within them the hope of eternal life; and at this 
moment it is nourishing all their virtues, fighting all 
their battles, subduing all their enemies, and carrying 
them all forward to glory. Nor shall the work and 
friendship of grace be suspended until, having passed 
through this valley of Baca, and having finished their 
course, they shall close their earthly career in peace. 
At that blessed moment, grace for them shall pass 
into glori/, and all the purposes of God in instituting 
the system under which they have been tutored, shall 
be finally and completely accomplished. Glory to his 
people ! will be the rapturous welcome which shall 
meet them at the gates of Paradise, and glory, glory, 
glory, will be the matter of their joy, and the theme 
of their song through all eternity ! 

But, apart from its manifestations in the mediatorial 
work of Christ, we see that God's grace is for his 
people in all the ordinances of his appointment. To 
that grace they are indebted for the preaching of the 
gospel, which converts their souls and prepares them 
for judgment. Think you, if God had not been for 
us, he would have caused the Sun of Righteousness to 
rise upon our world — dissipated the darkness of our 
natural minds, and raised our hopes of an inheritance 
above ? If he had not been for us, would he have 
preserved a seed to serve him, and to transmit from 



262 THE HIDING PLACE. 

age'to age the records of his mercy ? If he had not 
been for us, would he have put the gospel trumpet 
into the hands of the gospel heralds, and made them 
proclaim aloud and afar, ' Peace on earth, and good- 
will to men ? ' No. We have the best evidence that 
God is on our side, when we look at the mercy and 
wisdom of this magnificent moral apparatus by which 
Christ and him crucified are held up to the view and 
faith of all generations. Again, are we not indebted to 
the grace of God for the Bible 1 And surely he never 
would have sent us such a revelation, but with the 
intention of conferring upon us the blessings which it 
promises. Why did he give us poor sinners this 
infallible directory of a way to escape, if he had not 
wished to guide our steps into the paths of life ? And 
why did he hang up the burning and shining lamp 
above us, if he had not desired to guide our shattered 
bark across the stormy sea of Hfe, and ^ to the hills of 
God — the everlasting hills — to point the sinner's eye?' 
Again, if his grace be not for us, why has he insti- 
tuted the ordinance of 'prayer — prayer, the door by 
which we enter his presence to find grace — our retreat 
in the hour of conscious guilt to ask aid, for Chiist's 
sake, to find forgiveness — our hiding place when 
beset with temptations, and our trumpet wherewith 
we alarm Heaven to come to our aid in every time of 
need? In fine, is not the institution of our holy sacra- 
ments decided evidence that the grace of God is for 
his people ? To baptism they are indebted for their 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 263 

early dedication by their parents to God, and for 
admission into the church visible, ere yet they are 
able to appreciate its blessings. To many of them the 
external sign is accompanied by ' the washing of re- 
generation, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost ;' and 
to all of them afterwards are secured every blessing 
signified by the solemn rite. And where would man- 
kind have been but for the institution of the Lord's 
Supper ? What would have been the consequence if 
grace had neglected to erect this memorial of Jesus' 
atonement ? By this time, and long before this, the 
world would have forgotten the story of Jesus of 
Nazareth — Bethlehem and its manger — Mary and her 
babe — Galilee and its fishermen — Judea and its 
benefactor — Calvary and its cross. Joseph's sepulchre 
and its tenant would have been clean gone from the 
memory of men, perhaps from the records of history ; 
and how fearful must have been the consequences to 
a world lying in guilt ! ' There is no other name 
under heaven given among men whereby we can be 
saved but the name of Jesus.' Had men, therefore, 
lost sight of this name, they must have perished. 
But God be thanked that his grace was for us here ! 
We still have the institution of the Supper — an insti- 
tution which not only perpetuates from age to age the 
glorious truth that Christ died for sin, but which, to 
them that by faith observe it, is the medium of joyful 
fellowship with God, and the channel through which 
his abundant grace is ever made sufficient for them. 



264 THE HIDING PLACE. 

Say not that the discussion of this subject is use- 
less. As the people of God, you need to be cheered 
and encouraged in this scene of conflict and trial. Be 
cheered then and encouraged by the considerations to 
which your attention has been called. The Lord of 
hosts is with you — he is on your side. May we not 
then ask with the apostle, ' If God be for you, who 
can be against youf No doubt there are many 
against you — matiy who plot and long for your 
destruction, but not so against you as seriously to 
injure you. We are told that there are even some 
who plot against the Lord and his Anointed, but that 
he laughs at them, and dashes them in pieces like a 
potter's vessel. Equally disastrous to your enemies 
will be the wrath of God, who, in wondrous conde- 
scension, makes common cause with you. Your ene- 
mies are his enemies. Which of you then shall doubt 
the issue of the warfare ? Let none doubt it. You 
shall, you must triumph. You have Jehovah-Nissi, 
who is ^ strong and mighty in battle,' on your side. 
You have Jesus Christ, who triumphed over the 
powers of hell, on your side. You have the Holy 
Spirit, who moved upon the face of the waters, on 
your side. You have the angels, ^who excel in 
strength,' on your side. You fight beneath the 
standard of heaven — you fight against the foes of 
heaven — you fight for the glory of the God of 
heaven — you fight for the possession of heaven — fight 
on, and fight bravely, soldiers of the cross, and vie- 



JEHO VAH-NISSI. 265 

tory shall be yours. How can you doubt it ? For 
whether shall the Most High be most interested in 
your efforts, which are all for his glory, or in the 
efforts of the powers of darkness, which are all to 
hurl him from his throne? This, then, is your 
encouragement, though there be some against you, 
they never can succeed. They can never be so 
against you as to destroy you. They may trouble 
you with their hostihty, and perhaps now and then 
make some little inroads on your peace; but the 
waves of their opposition, like the waves of the sea, 
have their appointed limits; to the one as to the 
other God says, ^Hitherto shalt thou come and no 
farther.' They can never be so against you as to 
exclude you from heaven ; of that inheritance you 
are as sure as if you were already before God. You 
may doubt about it — your fellow-christians may doubt 
about it — and it may be Satan, that arch-deceiver, 
may sometimes have a flickering ray of hope that he 
may cheat you out of it, but all is secure ; as joint- 
heirs with Christ, you shall yet see God, and live. 
Why, then, should you ever be harassed vdth fears ? 
Is there one created being, think you, in the vdde 
universe of God — and if you will, let him be stronger 
than the angels, than the mightiest of the angels; 
yea, let him have strength above the concentrated 
power both of angels and of men — is there 'such an 
one against you ? Fear him not ; God is with you. 
Sooner could this morning's babe move the moun- 



2QQ THE HIDING PLACE. 

tain from its seat — sooner could your feeble voices 
arrest the sun in its course — sooner could the puny 
arm of mortal rend asunder the veil between time 
and eternity — sooner could these impossible things 
be done, than that any of you should be plucked out 
of his hands who has ^ given you eternal Hfe.' 

' The hosts of God encamp around 

The dwellings of the just ; 
Protection He afFords to all 
Who make his name their trust. 

* ! make but trial of his love ; 

Experience will decide , 

How blest they are, and only they, 
Who in his truth confide. 

' Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then 
Have nothing else to fear ; 
Make you his service your delight, 
Your wants Hb'11 make his care.' 



CHAPTER XIII. 



JEHOVAH-NISSI : THE LORD MY BANNER. 

PART II. 

' In the name of our God we will set up our banners.' 

Psalm xx. 6. 

The Lord is on our side. We owe all our reKgion and 
our hopes to his grace and love. This is the first idea 
connected with the title, Jehovah-Nissi. The second 
is like unto it, viz., that we are on the Lord's side ; his 
cause we espouse, and devote to it all we are by his 
grace and enjoy from his pardon. We proceed to the 
illustration. 

The figure employed, ^ a banner,' is borrowed from 
a military signal. It is frequently to be met with in 
scripture, and seems to be used indiscriminately with 
the words standard and ensign. The four grand 
divisions of the army of Israel had each a banner of 
different colours, for the sake of distinguishing the one 
from the other : but their chief use was to distinguish 
them from the contending enemy. There might be 



268 THE HIDING PLACE. 

other ensigns or flags, but that one which was called 
'the standard' was the most considerable and con- 
spicuous. It was regarded as the national banner, 
and was set up bj the commander upon some promi- 
nent place, not to be lowered while the battle lasted, 
and above all, not to be allowed to be taken, at what- 
ever risk defended. If the standard-bearer fell, and 
the standard itself was taken, confusion and rout 
might follow. From all the accounts, then, which 
have been received, whether sacred or profane, we 
learn the following truths respecting the use of the 
banner in war : It indicated the party, and specified 
the cause — it was the rallying point of the squadrons 
during the engagement — it was sometimes the tele- 
graphic language of war — and, it was carried in the 
triumphal procession, as the signal of victory. 

I. The Banner indicated the party, and 
SPECIFIED THE CAUSE. The banner of the christian 
does the same. In this world there are two spiritual 
powers engaged in hostilities; sin against holiness, 
or God against Satan. This war is carried on within 
man, or in the human heart — the object of Satan 
being to keep God out of it, and thus to ruin it for 
ever ; the object of God being to regain its affections, 
and to ensure its eternal happiness. Among the 
nations of this earth there are many grievous con- 
tendings. Strife of some kind sets the people against 
the rulers, or the nilers against the people; hence 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 269 

wars strictly so called. There are also intellectual 
combats, in which one set of opinionists essay to 
overthrow the lucubrations of another set ; hence the 
war of opinions that obtains among men of science, or 
letters, or politics. These parties make a great noise, 
and cause a great confusion. Each has a leader, and 
each leader has some appropriate emblem by which 
he indicates ' his side,' and his admirers their attach- 
ment. Exciting, however, as are these clashings of 
carnal interests, to none of them is a christian, as 
such, wedded ; and, indeed, in none of them does he 
take a very profound interest. No doubt he will 
have his own mind, and perhaps choose his o^y^ 
favourite, — Newton, for example, in the walks of 
natural philosophy, or Bacon in inductive science, 
or Adam Smith in civic economy, or any one of the 
illustrious statesmen of the day in politics ; and he 
will also uphold such an ensign or banner as ^A'ill 
publish to the world whose cause it is that he has 
espoused. He does this from conviction of duty, and 
because he knows that to hesitate or truckle must 
bring upon him contempt ; for, as society is now 
constituted, he who suspends his mind in everlasting 
hesitancy, fearing to indicate to which side he leans, 
gains the respect of none, and, it may be, the scorn 
of all. When a mind of a high order has dared to 
impugn the fallacies or wisdom of antiquity, and has, 
in its chivalrous advances into the region of truth, 
scared away the night owls of ignorance, and replaced 



270 THE HIDING PLACE. 

them with the lamps of knowledge, it is ennobled by 
the greatness of its own enterprise, and holds fast its 
convictions, though there be few indeed that follow it ; 
at the same time, it expects from its professed disciples 
that they shall not hide these discoveries in a napkin, 
nor, Nicodemus-like, visit their teacher only in the 
night season, but make known to all their coincidence 
of opinions with his, and extol his excellences. No 
earnest leader cares for your ' secref disciples. In- 
deed, there have been men of that honourable spirit, 
who would rather confront opposition, than be tan- 
talised with time-serving or half-hearted partisanship. 
• Be either for us or against us,' is the principle on 
which they wish to be dealt with ; if for us, say so, 
and say it manfully ; if against us, avow it, and let 
us meet an open and frank antagonist. 

In like manner ought the friends of Jehovah-Nissi 
to deal with him and his cause. It is their duty to 
lift up their distinctive banner before the whole world, 
and neither be afraid nor ashamed to do so. Now, as 
the Lord Jesus himself is the banner of the christian, 
so to set him up is just the same thing with a bold 
avowal that he is on Christ's side — that is, a follower 
of the despised Nazarene. No genuine believer, 
indeed, will on any account make his espousal of 
Christ an obscurity, or allow himself to become so 
afraid of the world, or so absorbed in its quarrels and 
projects, as to have his zeal cooled, or his adoption of 
the cross cast into the shade. Some there are, calling 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 271 

themselves christians, who allow the charms of philo- 
sophy, the hazards of politics, or the pursuits of 
business, so completely to occupy them, that their 
christian standard has been either taken from them, 
or it hes at their feet. No one can tell whether they 
are for or against Christ. Christianity seems to have 
no power over them ; and any compliance which they 
affect is of a very questionable shape, too nearly 
resembling the conduct of the seven sons of Sceva, 
who took upon them to name the name of Christ 
over those who were possessed with devils, and to 
whom the evil spirit answered and said, ^ Jesus I 
know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? ' Because 
the claims of time are great, and in a degree to be 
admitted, and because there is pleasure almost amount- 
ing to intoxication in investigating truth, and in 
unravelling the mysterious processes of nature, many 
justify their temporary lowerings of the distinctive 
badge of Christianity, and do not see that they thereby 
bring upon their religion the sneer of the freethinker. 
There are many dangerous conditions in which the 
precious soul of man can be placed, but there is none 
in which its everlasting well-being is so appallingly 
imperilled as in this nominal connection with Christ, 
while the devotedness is entirely to the idol of one's own 
heart. Let it be granted that this idol has the eye of 
beauty, still, like the cockatrice, it kills by its look ; 
that it has the voice of soul-inspiring music, still, like 
the syren, that music leads to the path of death ; that it 



272 THE HIDING PLACE. 

has the attire and ornaments of joyous youth, still all 
this is only as 

' The gilded shore 
To a most dangerous sea — the beauteous scarf 
Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word, 
The seeming truth which cunning times put on 
To entrap the wisest ! ' 

O the power which the love of this world wields over 
some men ! It is tremendous. In some it assumes 
the type of a monomiania, of a kind of moral insanity, 
wherewith they appear to be as much monopolised as 
if they had been created for no other end. It is 
money with one, fame with another, letters with a 
third, pleasure with a fourth, and general philanthropy 
with a fifth. But it is all one what it is, if upon that 
one thing the soul expends its strength, and wastes its 
fire, to the utter exclusion of God. What a miser- 
able breakdown is this after such flaring professions of 
consecrating their all to the service and glory of the 
Redeemer ! Banners they may have, but upon the 
only one elevated in the centre of their operations, is 
inscribed the name of that carnal deity to whom they 
live, and by whom they are to be destroyed. Of no 
true soldier of the cross can these things be affirmed. 
Jesus is the name inscribed on their banner, in 
letters of life, so that whatever mistakes men may 
commit in judging of them otherwise, they never can 
mistake the Leader whom they follow, nor the cause 
they have espoused. 



JEHOYAH-NISSI. 273 

But what is this cause ? It is presupposed that the 
christian's heart is first of all surrendered to his Lord 
and Master, and that, subsequent to this, the religion of 
the christian is adopted and advocated. The cause is 
Christianity, or rather the progress and universal spread 
of Christianity. The grand design of the gospel is to 
bring the world back to God ; and this consummation 
is to be secured by the agency of men who are them- 
selves saved. If they speak for Christ, it is because 
they have already believed in Christ ; if they give to 
Christ, it is because they have first of all given their 
own selves to him ; if they carry the war of truth into 
the region of error, it is because they are themselves 
enhghtened and purified by that truth. It would be 
a ridiculous, if it were not an audacious attempt in 
any man to hoist the banner of Christ, while he was 
still its enemy. But if by that Christ he has been 
crucified to the world, and the world has been crucified 
to him, then he only acts in character when he runs 
to the high mountains and fixes upon their summits 
this solemn ensign of his faith. He indeed cannot 
act in character at all, unless he become an aggressor 
on the domain of Satan, and fight hard to reinstate 
his Saviour in the love and allegiance of mankind. 

The cause at stake in the valley of Rephidim was 
God's covenant engagements with his people. Death 
to Amalek, therefore, was the cry, or the inscription 
on the standard of Israel. In hke manner, the cause 
of Christ is the triumph of his cross over the whole 



274 • THE HIDING PLACE. 

earth, and, therefore, death to all systems that oppose 
his, is the war-cry of his friends, while the hope of suc- 
cess gives determination and force to their every project 
and appHance. Less than the conversion of a world 
they dare not contemplate as the object to be aimed 
at. It is not a mere fraction, but the whole of the 
globe that has revolted; and it is not a moiety, 
but every soul of mankind, that lie under condemna- 
tion — it is not the men of one country, but those of 
every era and generation, that are to be besought to 
repent and beHeve. Wherever man is found, there 
Christ's cross is to be lifted up; and if some new con- 
tinent were to cast up at the very ends of the earth, 
and but one man its solitary inhabitant, to him it 
would behove us to carry it. So grand, so Godlike, 
so divine is this cause, that if all the world else were 
converted save this poor solitary wretch, there would 
be the highest propriety, yea, the most weighty neces- 
sity for bringing to bear upon his deathless spirit the 
hearty intercession of all saints, with the devices and 
sacrifices available for reaching and subduing him to 
the faith of the Kedeemer. 

In this view of the case, we may wonder that any 
avowed believer should feel at liberty to retire from 
the field of missionary action and enterprise, or refuse 
to go influentially forward into the thickest of the 
engagement. If the reader be such an one, let him 
immediately decipher the inscription upon his banner. 
Is it not, *He loved me, and gave himself for me V Is 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 275 

is not, ^ Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, 
and goodwill toward men V Is it not, ^ We are not our 
own, but bought with a price V Is it not, ^ We will 
follow thee whithersoever thou goest?' Are not 
these and such as these the appropriate devices on 
every standard in Israel? How comes it, then, O 
professed lover of Jesus, that thou art doing nothing 
in furtherance of the design of atoning blood ? How 
canst thou reconcile thy alien heart, thy sordid dis- 
position, thy inactive life, with the obligations thou 
hast imposed upon thyself, by carrying about with 
thee this banner of the Lord of hosts ? O how canst 
thou reconcile doing nothing whatever for Christ with 
seeking everything precious to thy soul from Christ ? 
Thou proclaimest before high heaven that Christ 
is thy banner; that is, that no less a being than 
thy Creator is fighting on thy side, and bleeding and 
dying for thee on the mysterious field of ^ the recon- 
ciliation ;' — and thou ! where art thou ? Not on his 
side — grudging him even a mite out of his own silver 
and gold — even a prayer when at his own throne of 
grace — even a word, one good word of acknowledg- 
ment whilst escaping underneath the broad banner of 
his omnipotence from the damnation of hell. O ' tell 
it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; 
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the 
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.' Say not 
that this caricatures thy case ; it is a genuine likeness 
— the enunciation of very truth. Thd Lord himself 



276 THE HIDING PLACE. 

declares it : ^ He that is not witli me is against me. 

n 

' I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. 
So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold 
nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.' If, there- 
fore, there is to be a continuance with thee of this 
do-nothing system, we would at once counsel thee to 
lower thy standard and efface its devices. Say no 
longer that thou art Christ's, and that he is thine, 
that thou art for him, and that he is for thee, or else 
let thy conduct be consistent with thy declarations ; 
and while thou livest, refuse not to do all, give all, 
and suffer all, to extend his gospel and make his name 
honoured beneath every clime. 

II. The Bajstner was the rallying point of 

THE SQUADRONS DURING AN ENGAGEMENT. If it 

happened, as it sometimes does in war, that any 
division of the army got into confusion, and if, amid 
the smoke and din of the battle, the standard was 
concealed, there was danger of defeat. But while the 
standard-bearer kept his ground, and so soon as the 
clouds rolled away, then the streaming flag was again 
discerned, the soldiers rallied around it, were formed 
into order, and anew assailed the foe. Had the 
banner been taken, and had no ensign of any kind 
remained to indicate the centre, confusion and rout 
must have followed. And so it is with the banner 
of the church. By the gospel* alone is this world to 
be redeemed out of the hands of Satan. The cross 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 277 

of Christ is the central point of this gospel, and there- 
fore the eyes and hearts of all men must be drawn 
hither, otherwise they remain in the slavery of sin. 
If this cross be hid, rebellion continues rampant. 
Left to itself, and left to themselves, unrestrained 
by the influences of Calvary, sin and sinners would 
speedily consummate the curse upon the earth ; for 
not only is rebellion against God in itself war of the 
worst description, but in its results upon men them- 
selves, it is terribly destructive ; while its aim is to 
dethrone Jehovah, its immediate effect is to make 
men devils and to turn them against one another in 
implacable hate. 

If the cross be not the only banner underneath 
which men are to be brought into reconciliation with 
God, then what experiment has ever been tried to 
arrest the fatal tendency of the race to apostacy? 
For four thousand years God left the heathen world 
to make the attempt, and what came out of it ? At 
the time of Christ's birth, the Gentile nations were 
in darkness. Men were idolaters, and their souls 
were immolated on the altars of Moloch ; men were 
slaves, and their lives and liberties were at the dis- 
posal of tyrants ; men were children alike in religion 
and science, and were the dupes of every idle chimera. 
And when at any time the soul, struggling to possess 
itself of the divine light, dared to impugn the accuracy 
of bygone maxims, or even to hint of a sacrifice for 
sin, and of immortality beyond the grave, the poignard 



278 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and the poisoned clialice became the reward of the 
embryo philosopher; while the effrontery of any 
speculation on the sublime laws that rule the sidereal 
heavens, was an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 
Surely four thousand years afforded a sufficiently 
long period for trial. Had it been shorter, the infidel 
might have pronounced it inadequate to the discovery 
of truth. Gainsaying, however, on tliis point, is 
silenced. The history of the heathen world up to 
the birth of Christ, is very interesting to the christian 
student. None of the nations kept long together; 
none of the mighty dynasties were perpetual; no 
system of morals, no principles of any kind had a 
long lease of life. The tendency of all men and of 
all things, whatever the regime under which they 
were placed, was to disunion, dispersion, and death. 
Why'^ Theke was no banner. These nations 
had no rallying point around which men might meet 
and be incorporated. One pecuhar people alone kept 
together, and were neither dissolved nor absorbed. 
Century after century passed away, and generations 
lived and died, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
interests rose and fell, but still that people ^ dwelt 
alone,' retained all their religious and political dis- 
tinctions, and were as entire when Christ was born 
as when Moses died. Why ? There was a ban- 
ner. God's truth was among them; and hence, 
though dispersed for a time, they always rallied again 
from every hidden recess of their capti\dties. Thus, 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 279 

while the wisdom of Socrates and of Plato, the miH- 
tary heroism of the Caesars, the arts of the men of 
Nineveh, and the laws of the Ptolemies, all failed to 
perpetuate the integrity and the power of empires — 
the ark and the altar of an insignificant and down- 
trodden people were sublimely maintained, amid the 
wreck of kingdoms and the crash of intolerant philo- 
sophies. It was the attractive and centralising power 
of their banner that did it. It was the truth of God 
that did it all. 

As it was then, so it is still. There is stability to 
no kingdom, promise to no human interest, and pro- 
gress in no quarter of the globe, except where the 
influence of the gospel is felt. That gospel is the 
saviour of any, as it must be the saviour of all people. 
Is it not the bulwark, at this moment, of Great Bri- 
tain? While continental nations lie bleeding in 
chains, forged by priestcraft, and are menaced every 
hour with some terrific revolutionary explosion, be- 
hold the solidity and tranquillity of our native land ! 
It is the cross that rallies, consoHdates, and unites us. 
Differences there are about mere circumstantials, but 
our common interest in the gospel salvation brings us 
all together, as into one compact Macedonian phalanx, 
armed at all points to defend, as one man, the pal- 
ladium of our civil and religious freedom. Take 
down from the high places of England that pure and 
sacred regard for our Protestant, or rather our Chris- 
tian privileges, for which we have hitherto been so 



4 
280 THE HIDING PLACE. 

highly distinguished, and it is questionable if, with 
all its power and prestige, this kingdom could long 
abide united or compact. We should then lack our 
common standard, and when the evil hour of con- 
tention came, we should fall to pieces like the empires 
of the past, and dissolve like a rope of sand as the 
angry tides advanced. Our safety, then, is in giving 
honour and prominence to the standard of the cross. 
If we lower it through cowardice, or compromise, 
then the God of mercy has no farther use for us, and 
will allow us to go down to the dust. If we keep it 
up, then we are safe ; for while heaven's own banner 
floats over our ramparts, we are the allies of the Lord 
of hosts, and he will give us victory, and crown us 
with abundance of all good things. 

But this is not all. If the banner of the gospel be 
the rallying point to kingdoms, even as to their secu- 
lar interests, much more is it so to the church of God, 
in her warfare with the powers of darkness. And 
here it is that the christian banner is seen to highest 
advantage, for here it is directly used, first for the 
church's purity, and secondly for her extension, 

1. As to her purity. She depends for its preser- 
vation on the divine oracles, which are her only 
standards. When, for instance, she suffers a relapse 
either as to corruption in doctrine or vitiation in 
morals, it can only be by the higher elevation of 
these standards that such errors are to be amended. 
Truth alone can neutralise the virus of heresy. 



JEH0VAH-NIS3I. 281 

Hence, when heterodoxes have crept in, the un- 
furling of this banner has driven them out of the 
church. It was by this means that Luther effected 
the Protestant Reformation. All that was needed in 
his day was just the uplifting of the good old banner 
of ^justification by faith.' So soon as the nations saw 
it once more floating over the hills and the walls of 
Europe, their hearts were made to leap to the glorious 
ensign ; man joined himself to man, and a short con- 
flict was all that was necessary to overthrow Popish 
felonies and fictions. O but the truth, the simple 
truth of Jesus, has a mighty influence in the way of 
rectifying human systems, and sanctifying human 
hearts ! Let but that truth have a free course, and 
the abettors of iniquity everywhere shall flee away. 
This is the grand catholicon for all errors and all 
woes. The edicts of kings, the anathemas of popes, 
and the penalties of magistrates, can do little in the 
domain of mind, less in the territory of morals, and 
nothing whatever in the region of conscience. The 
most these can effect is to make some men hypocrites, 
other men infidels, and many men dissolute. The 
uncompounded and untrammelled gospel of Christ 
has an innate power to do all its own work. Hence, 
when permitted to take its own way with men, it 
enlightens their minds, pacifies their spirits, and puri- 
fies their hearts. This is easily accounted for. God 
will have aU the glory of converting men, and he will 
share it with none. He therefore repudiates the 



282 THE HIDING PLACE. 

proffered arms of puny mortals. All he asks for his 
gospel is just that men receive it for themselves, and 
give it to others. As to mere earthly assistance in 
upholding and disseminating his own cause, he re- 
pudiates it, and requires of us that we let it work in 
its own way, that we give it space and time, and that 
w^e leave its efficiency to his blessing. Above all, he 
commands that we do not touch it with the brush, by 
way of freshening its complexion; nor dress it in 
purple and fine linen, by way of adding to its com- 
fort ; nor hang a sword by its side to give it a military 
air, or to help it in a quarrel ; nor put a crown upon its 
head, and set it on a throne, to impart authority to its 
oracles, or to secure currency for its laws; nor, in 
short, in any other way to annoy and encumber it with 
the weapons that are carnal. Let us leave truth, then, 
to walk forth in its native majesty, and with appeals 
from its own clear running brooks, it will sling them 
at the forehead of gigantic infidelity, and lay it lifeless 
in the dust. Only give to it a sufficiently elevated 
position — let its banners stream from all the evangelical 
pulpits of the land, and from all the missionary pulpits 
abroad, and in a short time its divine work shall be 
accomplished : ' all the ends of the earth shall see the 
salvation of our God.' Wliile a pure gospel is the 
only standard unfurled on the field, the divisions of 
the army are not distracted from the centre — the 
cross. Their eye ever rests upon it, and they con- 
tend strenuously in that direction. It is only when 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 283 

sectarian, or feudal, or imperial banners are added, 
that the true one is concealed, and disasters occur. 
The soldiers are then puzzled by varieties — they get 
off the centre — their eye is not alone on the cross, 
and hence they often fall into confusion, and fight 
against one another — rallying now around some 
painted device, and then around some tattered rag of 
men's own invention. O that the time were come 
when christian men would cherish unbounded confi- 
dence in the intrinsic omnipotence of Bible truth, and 
that no other banner save the cross were ever hoisted 
mthin the -pale of the church ! What a rushing of 
the hosts would then be towards it ! what a havoc of 
its enemies! what a shout of triumph from every 
bulwark of Zion ! How could it fail f Is not the 
banner the cross of Christ ? and is not the ' foolish- 
ness of God wiser than men, and the weakness of 
God stronger than men V 

2. All this is equally true when affirmed of the 
church's extension or progress. If the simple preach- 
ing of the gospel be enough to preserve her purity, it 
must be equal to secure her increase. Doubts are 
sometimes expressed as to the capacity of gospel- 
truth to convert the world. There are so many 
antagonist systems, and so many centuries have 
passed away while so little comparatively has been 
done, that many hesitate to give their assent to the 
proposition, that the christian religion is its own 
best propagator. Now, this scepticism is somewhat 



284 THE HIDING PLACE. 

inconsistent. Very few confide in mere secular or 
sectarian policy to preserve the purity of the church's 
doctrines, or to simplify these when they have been 
adulterated. It is admitted that to the church herself 
should be left the work of keeping her own house 
clean. But if this be so, why allow her an intrinsic 
power as to the preservation of her purity, and deny 
her that power as to her own propagation? It 
appears to be a more delicate and difficult thing to 
keep truth pure in such a -world as this, than to 
support and extend it. Indeed, the most heroic deeds 
on her fields have been connected with her masterly 
efforts against unholy mixtures and vain traditions ; 
and, but for the time, zeal, blood, and life she has 
expended on these, her advancement and captures 
might have been on an incalculably larger scale. 
When she has had nothing to do in the way of 
preserving her purity, she has found the rapid disse- 
mination of her principles comparatively easy. And 
it is singular enough, that while stores of time and 
treasure have in past days been consecrated to the 
protection of her chastity, similar contributions towards 
her mere progress have been made on a much smaller 
scale ; that is, it has taken more to retain the integrity 
of Truth, and to keep her free of the glosses of error, 
than to uphold her temple and feed her fires. If, 
then, the solitary banner of the cross be the only 
effective custodier of what is pure, let us believe in its 
ability also to possess the church of all the land that 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 285 

remains to be cultivated. Has not our Lord promised 
that the kingdom of his dear Son shall ' look forth as 
the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners V 

III. The Banisier was sometimes the tele- 
graphic LANGUAGE OF WAR. When Israel fought 
against Amalek, Moses was upon the top of the 
adjacent hill earnestly engaged in prayer, and the 
victory gained is, by most students of the passage, 
understood to be the answer to his prayers. This is 
a fair enough view of Hhe lifting up of Moses' hands,' 
but it is not the only idea conveyed by it. From his 
exalted position he had a sight of the entire field of 
battle, and could narrowly survey the various move- 
ments of the contending parties. He thus had 
information which Joshua could not in active engage^ 
ment acquire. Hence it has been suggested that we 
may consider the rod which he held in his uplifted 
hands, as on that day the royal standard of Israel ; 
and that he pointed with it to this and to the other 
part of the enemy's forces which appeared to be most 
vulnerable. Thus the rising and falling of his rod 
was in reality the telegraph of despatches, by means 
of which the battle was brought to a successful issue. 

How interesting the lesson here taught to the 
militant christian ! While he espouses the cross and 
rallies around it his best energies, he is also instructed 
and encouraged by it in all his conflicts with spiritual 



286 THE HIDING PLACE. 

adversaries. The gospel, in short, is at once the cause 
itself, and the very source of the strength and skill 
which are put forth in its defence. To it, therefore, 
he ever looks. As he looks, he receives intimation of 
the particular enemy that is advancing, of the time 
and mode of attacking him, and of the best manoeuvres 
for surprising and discomfitting him. If it be against 
his own personal piety that ^fleshly lusts ^ are warring, 
he is thereby taught how and when to crucify them. 
If it be against the interests of the entire army of the 
church that hostilities are concentrated, by the same 
rod of God is he directed as to the sure method of 
defeating them. On all occasions indeed, and at 
every stage and crisis of the spiritual life, is his 
banner to him an infallible guide. It never misleads 
him. It never leaves him in a difficulty. He may 
have to continue his warfare from night to mom, as 
well as from morn till night, but by constantly study- 
ing the movements of this ensign, he reaches in the 
end the expected crovrn. No wonder that the christian 
has such confidence in the cross ; that confidence 
has never been betrayed. Even when at times the 
enemy appears to be gaining ground, he has only to 
look once more at the banner, and his courage is 
braced up, and his efforts begin to tell powerfully 
against the foe. 

The hazard of war is proverbial. Often during the 
same engagement does the fortune of the day seem to 
favour the one, and then the other party; but victory 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 287 

imifonnly declares for the christian at the last. When 
Amalek prevailed against Israel, another look at the 
rod of Moses turned the tide in their favour. ^ The 
very sight of that rod would re-invigorate the fainting ; 
for they must all have heard of the v^onderfal things 
done by it in the land of Ham. Such like is the 
look of the believer at the cross of Christ. A divine 
energy is transmitted from it which no power in earth 
or in hell can resist ; and this solves the mystery of 
the marvellous achievements of the weakest saints. 
Left to themselves, they are sure to fall ; guided and 
upheld by the despatches and couriers of the gospel, 
they stand and conquer. What an irresistible argu- 
ment for ever ^ looking unto Jesus' as we ' fight the 
good fight of faith !' It was the first look at him that 
inspired the soul with energy, and excited it to action ; 
and it is the continual looking at the same centre 
that secures great progress in holiness. In itself, 
alone, the cross of that Saviour is a complete armoury 
to the believer. Its truth is his girdle, its righteous- 
ness his breastplate, its peace his shoe, its faith his 
shield, its salvation his helmet, and its word his 
sword. Yea, ^ the Lord his banner' is also his sun by 
day, which scatters before him every cloud ; and his 
moon by night, which casts its silver rays across the 
dark and death-like vale where he fights. Wonderful 
banner ! for, when hungry, it points him to the bread 
of hfe ; when thirsty, it leads him to the wells of sal- 
vation ; when wounded, it pours oil into his wounds ; 



288 THE HIDING PLACE. 

when despairing, it reanimates him with hope ; when 
fatigued and feeble, it gives him rest and shelter 
under its broad flag, and sends him forth like a giant 
refreshed with new wine ; when dying, it supplies him 
with the elements of spiritual heroism; and when 
dead, it touches him, and he lives. O, never did 
weary and warworn soldier fight under banner like 
this ! for when he is weak, then he is strong ; when 
faint, then he pursues ; when troubled on every side, 
then he is not distressed; when perplexed, then he 
is not in despair ; when persecuted, then he is never 
forsaken ; when cast down, then he is not destroyed, 
^ always bearing about in his body the dying of the 
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Christ might be made 
manifest in his body.' 

So much to be depended upon, indeed, and so 
certain are the timely issues of needed counsel and 
answered prayers from the cross, that the feeblest 
christian may go up at any time against a whole 
generation of Amaleks ; he may face the principalities 
of hell — he may challenge death and the grave. 
The looks he ever gives to that standard must nerve 
him up to every extremity, fortify him against all 
weapons, and draw him upwards to the very bosom of 
him who is the great High Priest of his profession. 
When there, he puts his ear to the throbbing of that 
heart which shed its blood for his life, so that, what 
with seeing and what with hearing, in this grand 
centre of his faith, he is prepared for every exigency. 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 289 

Not more quickly does the telegraph convey intelli- 
gence on its Hghtning wing, than does the warning 
from the cross reassure the believer, and hasten him 
onward and upward to the blessed experiences of his 
faith; yea, to the glorious reahsation of paradise 
regained. Valuable as are the electric wires, they are 
not implicitly to be trusted ; they may be broken ; the 
ocean's tides may break in upon and arrest the progress 
of the fluid, and he who trusted in a crisis to their 
infallibility, is suddenly disappointed. But no such 
calamity can befal the telegraphic banner of the 
christian. Its influence permeates all atmospheres, 
darts beneath all seas, flies over alpine chains, crosses 
eternal snows, and circulates, with equal freedom, 
among all elements ; so that whatever vicissitudes 
come, whatever opposition starts up, by instant resort 
to, and by wise consultation of the rod, he is possessed 
of all the information he needs, and at his right hand, 
in one moment, is the entire panoply of God. 
Casting away, then, all carnal confidence, and re- 
moving all trust in human desires or human merit, 
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without 
wavering, ^looking unto Jesus the author and the 
finisher of our faith.' 

IV. The Banner was used in the triumphal 

PROCESSION TO SYMBOLISE VICTORY. In by far the 

most important sense of the word, 'the victory' may 
be said to be gained by the sinner when he believes 



290 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and is forgiven. From that hour the object of Satan 
is defeated. He is now one of the ransomed of the 
Lord, and only awaits his coronation day to receive 
the laurel of the conqueror. That day, however, is 
often far distant from the period of the sinner's con- 
version. He is left for a while on the field of battle, 
where not a few of his old antagonists, whose wounds 
have not yet proved fatal, continue to threaten and 
vex him. The first conflict, however, is never repeated ; 
that is, he is not again subjected to the act of regene- 
ration. A man is only once converted, after which 
his spiritual fights can scarce be dignified with the 
name of battles ; they are only skirmishes with the 
fragments of a dispersed and a discomfitted enemy. To 
drop metaphor : the great matter is at first, when the 
soul is made to yield to God, and glory in the cross ; 
after this its progressive sanctification occasions all 
the contest that goes on between the powers of nature 
and of grace ; all the work now is just the following 
up, by the Spirit of God, of the great and decisive 
victory in the day of effectual calling. The question, 
therefore, is, should the christian celebrate this victory 
before he enters heaven ? and the reply must be in 
the affirmative. In ancient and even in modern 
warfare, the signal of victory is the elevation of the 
banner on the captured fortress or on the battle-field. 
The enthusiastic warriors wait not till all the condi- 
tions of surrender are fulfilled; and the triumphal 
procession, amid which the gay ensigns are waving, 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 291 

is not postponed until every preliminary is arranged. 
Victory brooks not delay, therefore up to the blue sky 
rise the shouts of the warrior in that very moment in 
which the enemy is scattered and fallen. 

What a fine lesson does this teach to believers! 
Your path, christian readers, from the moment of 
reconciliation to God, ought to be strewed with 
flowers ; on your brows should be placed the verdant 
laurel ; the banner of the cross should be carried in 
your hands high above your heads, and wherever 
you lodge, should wave over you as the signal to all 
that you have won the battle — that you are the Lord's. 
In this way you give glory to God in the highest, 
and thus also you proclaim the praises of the Captain 
of your salvation, as ^strong and mighty in battle.' 
Surely no christian will conceal his laurels, or hide 
the banner that tells to whom he is indebted for all 
he is and hopes for. By conscientiously manifesting 
his saintship, he not only gives glory to whom glory 
is due, but intimidates his enemies and keeps them 
away. Many good men are sadly tormented by their 
adversaries — often tempted to sin. If they would 
only examine themselves, they would discover that 
they expose themselves to all this by not lifting their 
banner high enough, or by not lifting it at all. When 
the enemy sees no banner but his own, he thinks the 
victory may yet be his, and while one gleam of hope 
remains, he relaxes no effort to gain his point. Now, 
to be relieved, not entirely, but to a comfortable 



292 THE HIDING PLACE. 

extent, from sucli hostilities, the christian has only to 
hoist his flag high enough, and to keep it up as long 
as he is on the field. In other words, he must always 
keep glorying in the cross of Christ. By that cross 
he at first triumphed over his enemies, and by that 
cross alone he shall go on to conquer over the field 
till he reaches the citadel of heaven. The cross does 
it all, therefore of the cross they should never be 
ashamed. The world may laugh at such an emblem; 
but they must extol it as all their ^ salvation and all 
their desire.' "We mean not by this to counsel you to 
the superstitious use of what the Romanist calls his 
crucifix ; for this would be to make and to worship 
an image ; but we mean, that engraven on the tablets 
of your hearts, that inscribed on every action of your 
lives, and that placed high in all your religious con- 
fessions should be Jesus Christ and him crucified. 
We mean, that so decided and distinct should these 
confessions be, that neither man nor de^dl can for one 
moment doubt either your actual allegiance or the 
source to which you ascribe its existence. It is he 
who, disregarding all the sneers of the fool, all the wiles 
of the world, and all the cravings of the deceitftil 
heart, desires all mankind to know that it is only by 
the grace of God that he is what he is— that it is only 
for Christ's sake that he is a pardoned sinner and an 
heir of hope — it is he who, in thorough contempt of 
his o\vn paltry works, makes mention of Christ's 
righteousness, even of his only — it is he who, deny- 



JEHOVAH-NISSI. 293 

ing himself all ^ ungodliness and worldly lusts, lives 
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world' — 
it is he who, in stern and unflinching regard to the 
law of Christ, yields ever to his constraining love, 
and publishes on the house-top what he has heard in 
the ear ; yea, who like Wisdom ^ crieth without, and 
uttereth his voice in the streets, in the chief places of 
concourse, in the openings of the gates ' — this is he 
who moves gallantly and rapidly forward in the 
divine life, his enemies being driven before the banner 
he carries, and before the life which he now con- 
scientiously and consistently leads. 

And when at length the field is abandoned — when 
all the wounds of the soldier have been healed by 
Jehovah-Rophi — when he is made perfect in holiness ; 
then it is, still waving the cross in his dying hand, 
still glorying in it with his dying breath, still enfolding 
it in the arms of his immortal faith, his soul reaches 
the gates of the celestial city, and all the crowned 
victors who have preceded him rush forth to meet 
another brother in arms, giving him a rapturous 
welcome, and forming a grand procession, convey 
him into the immediate presence of the King, who 
puts the crown upon his head, the palm into his hand, 
and eternal songs into his mouth. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: THE LORD IS THERE. 

PART I. 

' The name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah- Shammah ;' 
that is, ' The Lord is there.' 

EzEKiEL xlviii. 35. 

The scripture quoted above is the last sentence in 
the book of Ezekiel. While it is an appropriate 
conclusion to his prophecies, it is also suitable as a 
winding up of the subject of this volume. Though 
not the last of the prophets. Ezekiel, in the passage 
referred to, looks forward to times subsequent to those 
of Makchi. He is ' the bui'den of the word of the 
Lord' upon the future gospel chui'ch; and after 
describing changes in the history of the Jews of which 
we cannot even form a conception, he foretells the 
rise of a mystical city, the name of which was to be 
* Jehovah- Shammah J In the context, the references 
cannot be to the return of the Jews from captivity, 
and consequently not to the literal Jerusalem. In 
other predictions upon this subject, the literal return 



JEHOVAH-SHAJMMAH. 295 

is manifestly meant; but in this one there are 
arrangements bearing upon some great future to 
which nothing corresponds in actual history. The 
city, for instance, is not named. No mention is 
made of Jerusalem at all, and the whole description 
from first to last gives countenance to a spiritual 
rendering. The 'city' referred to is undoubtedly the 
church of Christ under the New Testament dispensa- 
tion ; and the name of that church is, ' The Lord is 
there.' Now, we think this the proper place for 
the consideration of this new coveijiant title of our 
Lord and Saviour, not only because it has great and 
comforting truth within itself, but because it is a kind 
of summing up of all the privileges that flow to his 
people from' those gracious relationships in which .the 
former titles represent him as standing to them. Is 
Jehovah 'the Lord our God?' his friendly disposition 
* is there.' Is he Jehovah-Jireh ? his actual provision 
for our wants 'is there.' Is he Jehovah-Tsidkenu ? 
his justifying righteousness ' is there.' Is he Jehovah- 
Rophi ? his healing virtue ' is there.' Is he Jehovah- 
Shalom ? his dying legacy, even his peace, ' is there.' 
Is he Jehovah-Nissi ? his cause 'is there.' Is he 
Jehovah-Shammah ? he himself, in all the perfections 
of his Godhead and in all the blessings of his grace, 'is 
there,' there in every ordinance of Zion, in aU her 
oracles, in all her members, in all her enterprises, and 
in all her interests. Emphatically and peculiarly is 
Jesus the Jehovah-Shammah — the God whose pre- 



296 THE HIDING PLACE. 

sence is in the church, which he hath purchased with 
his own blood. That church is now his dwelUng 
place; it is his ^rest/ and he Hikes it well/ This 
doctrine of the perpetual presence of the Saviour in 
every age and down to the end of the world is the 
great bulwark of the church, but for which the gates 
of hell would certainly prevail against her. It is 
more; it is the source of her life, her joys, her 
advances, and her triumphs. But for this presence, 
indeed, there would be no church on earth at all; 
and if that presence were withdrawn even from 
heaven, its chiefest joy, if not its main attraction, 
would disappear. It is therefore very evident that in 
this title of ^ Jehovah-Shammah,' as affirmative of 
Christ's actual inhabitation of his church, there must 
be substantial material for believing reflection and 
spiritual refreshment. This much is indicated by his 
latest words on earth, ^Lo I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world.' Under this convic- 
tion, we shall now review in their order the presence 
itself J the places of the presence, the realisation of the 
presence, and then the special seasons for its realisation. 

I. The gk agio us pkesence of the Lord. 

' The presence of the Lord ' is a phrase frequently to 
be met with in the Bible. It admits of various ex- 
planations. In general, it is referable to his omni- 
presence : ^ Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or 
whither shall I flee from thy presence ? ' But it has 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 297 

also special and gracious significations. The first 
time we meet with it is in the account given of the 
fall: ^Adam and his wife hid themselves from the 
presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden.' 
The second use of the phrase is in the narrative of 
the banishment of Cain : ^ And Cain went out from 
the presence of the Lord.^ In botli of these instances 
it is implied, that God and man had been in actual 
or endearing fellowship, but that in the loss of ^ the 
presence' there was interruption to that communion. 
In other passages, the reference is evidently to the 
will or commandment of Jehovah, such as when it is 
said of Jonah that ' he rose to flee from the presence 
of the Lord.' In a third class, we have the phrase 
apphed to the divine judgments : ^ Tremble thou 
earth at the presence of the Lord ;' ^ Let the wicked 
perish at the presence of the Lord;' ^The earth is 
burnt at his presence.' In a fourth, the connection 
is vrith the promise and prospect of the goodness and 
mercy of God : ^ And he said to Moses, My presence 
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.' In a 
fifi:h, we are directed to the throne itself on which 
God sits : ' I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence 
of God;' ^For Christ is not entered into the holy 
places made with hands, which are figurative of the 
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the pre- 
sence of God for us.' And lastly, to the celestial 
blessedness the Holy Spirit applies the words, ^In 
thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand 



298 THE HIDING PLACE. 

are pleasures for evermore.' In all these passages the 
phrase is evidently restricted, and of course must have 
limited significations. We prefer holding by the idea 
of that speciality in the divine presence which is 
vouchsafed to his own people, and which is altogether 
of a gracious character. None others enjoy it ; and 
as it is enjoyed by them, it is one of their most pre- 
cious privileges. What, then, does it imply in this 
restricted and spiritual application ? 

1. Actual abode. This presence is something far 
better than his merely ' looking down from heaven' — it 
is his coming down from his Father's house, and from 
the praises of eternity, to ^ dwell with him also that 
is of a contrite and humble spirit.' In many respects 
even the general truth of his omnipresence is pleasing 
to his people ; but this they have in common with his 
enemies — this is given to all his creatures, urespective 
of their being good or bad, rational or animal, terres- 
trial or celestial, ^lis, gracious presence is reserved 
for his chosen ones, and implies something in addition 
on a grand and imposing scale. He is ' with' them, 
on the very spot where they are ; yea, he is ^ in them,' 
in their very souls, to ^ bless them and to do them 
good.' There was an actuality in the divine presence 
within the garden of Eden when he spake to our first 
parents, and at Horeb when he appeared in the burn- 
ing bush to Moses, and within the holy place where 
the Shechinah dwelt between the cherubims, above tlie 
mercy-seat. God was in these places in a sense in 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 299 

whicli he was in no other place. But his presence with 
his people now is more real or actual still. It is not 
even such a presence as his disciples enjoyed when he 
dwelt among them in the days of his flesh, precious 
and pleasing as that presence unquestionably was. 
It is something still more palpable, still more near 
and dear, still more comprehensive of the blessedness 
of divine communion. He is ' icith them^ not merely 
to witness and watch over them, but to make them, 
in consequence of this mysterious inhabitation of their 
souls, the happy recipients of his richest grace. He 
is ' with them always.' Having once taken up his 
abode, he will never quit them — it is his rest ; he will 
never leave nor forsake them. His grace shall never 
be recalled, his blessing never lost, his smile never 
changed into a frown ; for ^ the gifts and callings of 
God are without repentance.' Jesus is ' the word of 
the Lord;' and the ^word of the Lord ahidethfor 
eoer.^ The phrase also implies — 

2. Exerted influence. Not only is the Lord 
always with his people, but he is always with them in 
the actual dispensations of his divine Spirit. We 
cannot conceive it possible for him to take up his 
special abode among them, and be of no more use to 
them than to others with whom he does not thus 
reside. If he dwell with the saints, it is to move them 
by moving within them and diffusing throughout them 
those irresistible and pleasing influences, to which 
they are ever indebted for their spiritual activities 



300 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and productions. It is only when lie thus dwells with 
his people that they are favoured with what have 
been called * divine manifestations.' Such was the 
privilege of the first disciples : ' He that loveth me,' 
said Christ to them, ^ shall be loved of my Father, and 
I will love him, and manifest myself unto him.' 
When Judas, not Iscariot, asked, ^ How is it that thou 
wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world f 
he replied, ' We will come unto him, and make our 
abode with him.' Thus also in his intercessory prayer 
he says : ' I have manifested thy name unto the men 
whom thou gavest me out of the world.' These 
manifestations consist of those views of his favour for 
and mercy towards them, by which they are made to 
rejoice in his salvation — in those receptions of gospel 
comforts, by which they know themselves to be his 
children— in those clear and happy discernments of 
their adoption, by which they cry, ^ Abba, Father,' and 
in those seasonable gifts of saving and confirming 
grace, by which they are cheered and invigorated in 
the good fight of faith. The enjoyment of such 
privileges greatly enhances to them all the divine 
ordinances, as it is for the most part in them that 
these manifestations are made. This indeed is the 
secret of the christian's attachment to ^the word, 
sacraments, and prayer ;' and this is the grand motive 
under which he leads the life of godly fear. They 
are, therefore, always positively the better of his 
company. If they lodge him in their hearts, he fills 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 301 

these hearts with his own bread of life. If they admit 
him into their darkness, he dissipates it with his light. 
If they exalt him to the throne of their affections, he 
elevates them in their thoughts and desires ^ to things 
that are in heaven.' If they entertain him at their 
table, he loads it Tvith his own benefits, and causes 
their cup to overflow. It must indeed be the best of 
all blessings to have a loving and sin-pardoning God 
actually dwelling in the soul. Throughout all its 
region of thought and feeling, alike upon its active 
and among its passive powers, the divine afflatus is 
ever at work, exerting an authority which fails not to 
accomplish the kindness of the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus, in the experience of every believer. 
This authority is influence of the right kind, exerted 
through the proper channel, and sent in the right 
direction. It is the doing and bidding of God Opacified' 
towards us in Christ. It is the mercy and power of 
God reaching us through the mediation of Christ ; and 
it is the grace of God abundantly given to the hungry 
and thirsty soul, that thereby its guilt may be can- 
celled, its purity promoted, its peace secured, its 
consolations multiplied, its safety made certain, and 
its eternal Hfe placed beyond all peril. Such, indeed, 
are the nature and power of the influence thus exerted, 
that his people not only never want, but they cannot 
want ; they are made competent, even they, frail as 
they are at their best estate, for every duty, trial, and 
temptation; no vicissitude can meet them for which 



302 THE HIDING PLACE. 

they are not prepared, and no enemy whatever can 
oppose them whom they shall not more than conquer. 
Now, when we think how broad the divine command 
menf is, how overwhelming to poor human nature are 
the afflictions of this life, and how subtle, numerous, 
and powerful are the soul's enemies, we cannot but 
wonder that there is even one case of successful faith, 
even one instance of a human soul getting safely to 
heaven. But our wonder, though it may be increased 
in another view, is in this one diminished, when we 
discover that it is not the believer at all, but God's 
influence in and over him, that does it all from first 
to last. Hence the boast of every christian is, ' Not 
unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name 
give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake.' 
Again, the phrase implies, 

3. Preferred claims. God takes up his abode 
in the hearts of his people to state and make clear to 
them his claims upon their love and homage. Were 
he to speak to them only from a distance, or outside 
their hearts, they would neither listen nor consent ; 
but his inward testimony is irresistible ; for when it 
issues from his own mouth, then it comes to them in 
what is called ' the demonstration of the Spirit and in 
power.' Having done so much for them as their 
Saviour, he has not a mere titular but an actual right 
to their love and service. This right, however, only 
becomes actvxil when he makes them feel their obliga- 
tions to him, and these they never do feel till he 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 303 

himself prefers them with all the winning persuasive- 
ness of his own presence, in addition to the eloquent 
appeals of his own word. Up to the day of this 
indwelling and inspeaking, they disregarded all his 
claims and remonstrances, and were in the way of 
being for ever lost to every sense of justice and of 
gratitude. He saw that it would not do to confine 
his plans to mere messengers and messages, so he 
decided to come himself, and in his own person to 
win them over. Having previously enlightened their 
eyes, he came down and presented himself to their 
view, saying, ^ I am the Lord thy God ;' that sight 
was enough ; they then saw ' beauty in him that he 
should be desired,' and they constrained him, saying, 
^ Abide with us.' He replied, I will, but 'give me 
thine heart.' Were he never thus to prefer his claims, 
they should never be acknowledged among men — 
which suggests the next thought of, 

4. Acknowledged titles. We cannot conceive 
it possible that when God, in actual presence, prefers 
his claims, his people will resist or refuse to own 
them. Whenever he says, fixing his longing look 
upon the orphan soul, ' My son, give me thine 
heart,' that heart is surrendered in that very moment. 
There are no fascinations otherwise that can cause 
it to hesitate. God's own honour is now at stake; 
for when he goes the length of wooing in person 
the heart of any poor sinner, he secures for himself 
success. His gracious presence, then, cannot but 



304 THE HIDING PLACE. 

imply that his rights are always and cheerfully 
acknowledged, whether by the thief on the cross, or 
by the persecutor on the road to Damascus, or by any 
of the sons and daughters of men, of whatever age and 
stage of hard-hearted iniquity. It is indeed the loftiest 
music heard out of heaven — the responses of those 
hearts whiiph give way to the bewitching smiles of 
redeeming love, as these are manifested beneath the 
arch of the rainbow that is round about the Saviour's 
head. Does he say, ^I am the Lord thy Godf they 
reply, ^ Thou art the Lord our God.' Does he say, 
^My son, give me thine heart f their reply is, ' Our 
hearts. Lord, will we give;' and while this harmony is 
restored, and this song is singing, the recording angel 
writes it down in ' the book ' over against each 
believer's name, ^ Thou hast avouched the Lord this 
day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways,' and 
^ The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his 
peculiar people' — which farther implies, 

5. Man eestoeed. When man is re-admitted 
into the presence of God, it is evident that reconcilia- 
tion has taken place. Plis departure from God sunk 
him into the low estate of sin and misery, but God's 
presence with him re-elevates him to the high estate 
of holiness and peace. The presence of the Lord is 
sometimes a curse. It hastens the shiner still farther 
and farther from him. But it is otherwise with his 
gracious presence. By this he never fails to restore 
the sinner to his proper senses ; for ' the times of re- 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 305 

freshing come from the presence of the Lord.* While 
asunder, that sinner conceives hard things of God. 
But when he manifests himself as the God of love, 
kindly and encouraging thoughts of God return ; and 
in proportion as these thoughts are cherished, does 
man go on to know and love God better and better. 
By such convictions, produced by such indwelling, 
the whole moral nature is renovated. The witness 
to his pardon lies within himself — it is God that tells 
him that his sins are forgiven. He might discredit 
an angel, but he must believe the Lord of angels. 
He might doubt a prophet or an apostle — he might be 
sceptical of his own spirit, but he cannot resist the 
testimony of God's Spirit with his spirit. The pre- 
sence of the Saviour with him is his security that all 
shall now go well with him. It is impossible that it 
ever can be otherwise. Hence the sure and progres- 
sive sanctification of his soul through life ; hence its 
completion in holiness at death, and hence its recep- 
tion into heaven hereafter. When all the wicked 
* shall be punished with everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord,' all the saints shall be pre- 
sented ' faultless before the presence of his glory, with 
exceeding joy.' And this suggests the last thought 
under this division of the subject, namely, — 

6. God satisfied. When he condescends to 
come and take actual possession of the heart, we may 
be assured he wiU so adjust all within as to make it a 
fit place of residence for such ^ an high and holy one' 



306 THE HIDING PLACE. 

as lie is. He would not have come at all, but for the 
certainty of getting this satisfaction. He gets it. No 
heart ever refused his personal application, and hence 
it is that he ever ' sees of the travail of his soul, and 
is satisfied.' He is satisfied even with the very first 
thought of love towards him, feeble and awkward 
though its expression may be. He is satisfied with the 
first look at his cross, faint and brief as it is. He is 
satisfied with the inaudible whisper of a new-born 
faith, and the imperceptible yearning of a newly- 
formed heart. He is satisfied with all these, Kecause 
he ^ is there ' himself, and sees that it is the unveil- 
ing of his own beauty, the intoning of his own mercy, 
and the warmth of his own grasp, that shook off the 
slumbers of sin, and awoke the soul to the highest 
sense of mediatorial love. To give to the Saviour such 
satisfaction as this, may be said to be the christian's 
^ chief end.' For this he was called of God at the first 
by word, by providence, and by ordinance, and when 
nothing else would do, for this God himself descended 
to enter in and take possession. But the satisfaction 
he receives is not so much from the immediate 
changes and improvements that follow his gracious 
residence there, as fi:om the large promise now given 
of the full harvest of his people's homage and praise. 
When he gets admission at first, he no doubt finds all 
in confusion; and in comparative disorder the re- 
newed heart remains for a long time ; but there is 
satisfaction growing even out of this state of things, 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 307 

for the Saviour is never grieved by any total back- 
going in the justified soul; on the contrary, he is 
ever pleased by the sight of its gradual assimilation to 
his own image — he himself takes care that he v^ill 
* perfect that which he has begun.' And none but 
he who shed his blood as an atonement for sin, can 
tell the joy experienced by a sight of sin's subjuga- 
tion throughout the region of a reconciled heart. In 
addition, however, to all this, he has ever the satisfac- 
tion of contemplating the end of it all, and that he 
knows, whatever may be present imperfections, shall 
be perfect holiness and happiness for ever. This was 
the ^ joy that was set before him ;' in all his suffer- 
ings he had respect unto this as his ' recompense of 
reward;' and with this in prospect, he is content to 
dwell for a time with his people even in that tabernacle 
where ' they groan, being burdened.' But for such a 
prospect, he could not remain with them — he must 
withdraw his presence ; but enjoying it as he does, he 
is patient with them and long-suffering, and is with 
them ' always.' The very fact, in short, of his dwell- 
ing with them, proves satisfaction of the highest de- 
gree; it proves great love for his people, and this 
love comprehends two things: approbation of, and 
delight in them. He approves of them. They have 
complied with his invitations, and taken him for their 
Lord upon his own terms ; hence says our Saviour, 
' If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, 



308 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and make our abode with him.' He delights in them. 
From all eternity, he tells us, his delights were with 
the sons of men ; and again it is written, ^ The Lord 
taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that 
hope in his mercy,' and ^ they that deal truly are his 
delight.' The scriptures abound with expressions of 
this divine complacency ; but perhaps for pathos and 
beauty the following surpass them all: ^Can a 
woman forget her sucking child, that she should not 
have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they 
may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I 
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands ; thy 
walls are continually before me.' ^Thou shalt also 
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a 
royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt 
no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land 
any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be 
called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord 
delighteth in thee.' 

II. The places where this presence is 
VOUCHSAFED. The Psalmist thus sings : ' In Judah 
is God known; his name is great in Israel. In 
Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place 
in Zion ;' and again, ' The Lord loveth the gates of 
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.' From 
these and parallel scriptures we learn that his principal 
and most important dwelling place is the gospel church 
at large. We remark, then, in the first place, that — 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 309 

I. The Loed dwells in the chukch. There 
is but one church — the church of Christ. It is called 
the ' household of faith ;' and all are members of this 
household who believe on the Lord Jesus, its divine 
and only ' head,' — that is, every really penitent and 
pardoned sinner is a christian, and none but christians 
are members of Christ's * mystical body.' To be ' in 
Christ Jesus' is at once the status and the proof of 
genuine faith. To be in the church is just another 
mode of expressing the same truth ; so that none are 
in or belong to the church who are not thus 'in 
Christ.' Nominal or formal adherence- to a party or 
section of the church does not constitute membership ; 
and difference of country, of tongue, of colour, of de- 
nominational peculiarities, if the person be ' in Christ,' 
does not in the slightest affect his condition or his 
privilege as one of the family of God ; for, says the 
apostle, ' Ye are all the children of God by faith in 
Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been 
baptised into Christ, have put on Christ. There is 
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor 
free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all 
one in Christ Jesus.' Now, all believers being mem- 
bers of Christ, are also ^members' one of another. 
Christ is the head, and they are his body. Whether 
they dwell in heaven or upon earth ; whether they 
live now, or are to be born and live thousands of 
years hence, it does not affect this truth — they form 
but ' one body ;' they constitute, and they alone, that 



310 THE HIDING PLACE. 

corporation which is called ^ the church,^ or ' the church 
catholic' And it is within or in tliis church that the 
divine Redeemer dwells, in the manner, and for the 
purposes specified in the former part of this exposition. 
It is true, his glorified person is actually in heaven ; 
but his real, his gracious, his divine person is as cer- 
tainly in this spiritual household, in this ' holy temple.' 
Like his Father's house above, this temple below may 
have ^many mansions;' but his presence is not con- 
fined to any one of these — it fills them all with light, 
and truth, and joy. As the human head is the source 
of vitality and influence to the members of the body ; 
or, as the vine gives sap and fruitfulness to all the 
branches : so does Christ, Christ himself, and Christ 
alone, influence vitally every member of his church. 
They all hold by him as ^ the head,' and they all grow 
upon him as ^ the true vine.' He dwells in this spi- 
ritual Zion as its fountain of life ; he reigns there as 
its sole King ; and his sceptre of righteousness is there 
extended over the mystical edifice, with all its palaces 
and towers — with all its prophets, priests, and kings — 
with all its laws, rites, and privileges — with the whole 
body of its people, from Adam down to the last-born 
saint. Thus his presence is, in this respect, universal 
as the church, and perpetual as its existence ; and 
every section of it may now claim not apostolical suc- 
cession merely, but Prophetic, Mosaic, Patriarchal, and 
Adamic descent — all the saints of these dispensations 
were ^in Christ,' and we ^are all one in him;' for 



JEHO VAH-SHA3IM AH. 311 

* there is no difference,' and there cannot be any. In 
this unity there is a beautiful equality among deno- 
minations of christians. They may pretend to various 
kinds of pre-eminence, but the fact is, and ever must 
be, ^ they are all one in Christ Jesus.' He dwells with 
them as their only Head, and they dwell in him as 
his only or one church. How ought this great truth 
to draw the christian sects together into an avowed 
union ! What a pity it is that they should seem to 
be divided when in reality they are not ! ^ Is Christ 
divided ? ' Let this consideration repress bigotry and 
spiritual self-complacency, and let it animate all who 
believe in the great essentials of Christianity to drop 
their ^shibboleths,' and Mwell together' as brethren. 
2. The Lord dwells in all the ordinances 
OF THE CHURCH. They are all of his appointment. 
Notwithstanding they have no intrinsic efficacy, they 
have no might nor power in themselves to regenerate 
or enlighten the soul. The Bible, for instance, is the 
word of God, but the words of the Bible are not God. 
The mere reading of them does not exert saving 
energy. God must be in that word, or must go along 
with that word, whether read or heard, into the 
understanding and heart, otherwise the ordinance is 
abortive. But as the word is his, and as 'to search' 
it is one of his ordinances, so does he use it as one 
of the means by which he takes possession of the guilty 
soul. ' Thy word,' says David, ' hath quickened me.' 
The ordinance of preaching also is equally ineffectual 



312 THE HIDING PLACE. 

but for him. ^Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
as the Lord gave to every man ? I have planted, 
Apollos watered, hut God gave the increase,^ Peter's 
Pentecostal sermon could not have made one convert. 
It was the descent of the Holy Ghost by that sermon 
into their hearts that led them to the cross. No 
christian ministry, whatever be its nature, genius, or 
sanctified endowments, has virtue in itself to save 
souls. Hence the necessity of having the continual 
presence of the Lord Jesus in the ordinance of 
preaching. This is equally true in respect of all the 
other means of grace, and more especially in respect 
of the two symbolical institutes of the christian 
church. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. With what- 
ever mystery ignorance and superstition have invested 
these, they are in themselves as impotent as the 
rest. Apart from the divine presence in them, they 
are, for really spiritual ends, as useless as if they were 
strictly human inventions. But God does use them 
for the good of his people. In baptism, when it 
pleases him, he may and often does apply the thing 
signified by the water, even the blood of Christ ; and 
in the Lord's Supper he is graciously present with the 
believing communicant, who can then say, ' His flesh 
is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed.' But 
our Redeemer is not pledged to be in any of these 
ordinances of necessity to all and sundry who may 
observe them ; he is only pledged to meet in them 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 313 

with, and to make them efficacious to those, who by- 
faith discern himself as the Lord their God, and 
' yield themselves his servants to obey.' It is in the 
ordinances of the churchy or as observed by the church, 
that is, by believers, that he is ever present and makes 
them uniformly blissful. But when the men of the 
world J who have not believed in his name, observe 
these in a corporal or carnal manner, they do not find 
him there, because they do not seek for him there. 
Being content with the form, they disregard the 
substance. All spiritually-minded men, however, 
seek and find the Lord in these institutions ; and 
hence their ' souls thirst for him, and long for him in 
a dry and thirsty land wherein no water is, to see his 
power and his glory as they have seen them in the 
sanctuary.' Such men alone find God in his ^word;' 
and hence they testify, ^The entrance of thy word 
giveth light ; it giveth understanding unto the simple.' 
These alone see God in the courts of his own house ; 
hence they prefer Jerusalem above their chief joy, 
and are glad when it is said unto them, ' Let us go 
into the house of the Lord.' These alone receive the 
spiritual blessing in the sacraments ; hence their 
recorded experience, ' The cup of blessing which we 
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? 
the bread which we break, is it not the communion of 
the body of Christ f 

3. The Lord dwells in each section of the 
Church. He may not approve of the subdivisions 



314 THE HIDING PLACE. 

which difference of opinion on minor matters has 
occasioned, but neither does he on that account deny to 
any of them his blessing. Whatever be the character 
of their pretensions, Christ himself is impartial. He 
is not more with one than with another. He presides 
alike over the counsels and over the interests of the 
most modem and insignificant, as over the most 
ancient and illustrious churches of Europe. It is not 
ancestral venerability, nor pompous ritualism, nor 
overweening claims of orthodoxy, that at all influence 
his presence. It is the place which his cross occupies 
among them, and the degree of faith in it to which 
they have attained, together with the conformity to 
his death in their entire procedure, that commands 
him into the midst of them with his blessing. 
If he be more in one gospel church than in another, 
it is only where his love is more appreciated, and his 
glory more sincerely sought after. Even in the days 
of Paul, there were degrees of excellence among the 
churches. He had to reprove Hhe foolish Gralatians;' 
but he highly commended the church of the Thessa- 
lonians, saying of them, ^We are bound to thank 
God always for you, as it is meet, because that your 
faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every 
one of you all toward each other aboundeth ; so that 
we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for 
your patience and faith in all your persecutions and 
tribulations that ye endure.' To the extent, then, 
only of a difference in christian love, faith, and useful- 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 315 

ness, do we own to a difference as to the presence of 
Christ among the various sections of his church. But 
not one — not even the one most nearly approaching, 
in all its organisation and spirit, to the mind and 
pattern of Christ himself — holds a monopoly of the 
promise, ^ Lo I am with you alway.' When Christ, 
then, is in every church, each church should respect 
and love its neighbour. When any church (falsely 
so called) has none of the presence of Christ, it is be- 
cause it either never held the truth as it is in him, or, 
having held it, has drawn back and made shipwreck 
of its faith. A christian church should ever breathe 
and exemplify the spirit of Christ, being, like him, 
^meek and lowly' — always ready to condescend to 
others of low estate, and esteeming its sisters more 
highly than its own self— ever prepared to hold out 
the hands of fellowship and charity to all who love 
the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth. A Christ- 
less church cannot be expected so to feel or act. It 
has the body, but not the soul of Christianity. The 
spirit of form may hover around it, but the Spirit of 
Christ is not there. Hence its coldness, its barren- 
ness, its rapid declension even from its nominal claims 
to be one of his witnesses. Let this blessed truth, 
then, that equally with the humblest and most ob- 
scure, as with the most potent and famous of the 
churches of Christ, is he graciously present. Do 
thousands of members meet around the altar of one 
section ? Its name is Jehovah-Shamraah — ' the Lord 



316 THE HIDING PLACE. 

is there.' Do ^ two or three' only meet together in 
his name? Their name also is Jehovah-Shammah — 
he ' is there in the midst of them.' And if he, the 
Lord himself, be thus present, let not the lowliest 
church droop in the absence of mere earthly patronage ; 
and if he, the King of kings, be present, let not the 
most august assembly of his people be covetous of the 
tribute and homage of the most illustrious of the sons 
of men ; neither let them despise the humbler and 
more unpretending church beside them, though it 
may be so small as to meet in the house of a * Nym- 
phas' or of a ^Philemon.' Yes, God be thanked, he 
is wdth us all, and always present, to do to and for 
each of our sections what he sees to be necessary for 
our well-being and well-doing. As associated in his 
name and by his authority, he recognises every one 
of them as witnessing for him ; and therefore he abides 
most graciously with them all, to keep them pure, 
alike in doctrine as in practice, and to excite and aid 
them in the work to which they are called and con- 
secrated, of advancing the interests of his kingdom 
all over the earth. 

4. The Lord dwells in every godly fasiily. 
lie may have a preference for ' the gates of Zion,' 
but notvv^ithstanding, he abides also in ^ the dwellings 
of Jacob.' How beautiful are these declarations : 
' I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel ;' 
' All the children of Israel had light in their dwelHngs ;' 
' I will save them out of all their dwelhng places ;' 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 317 

' The Lord blesseth tlie habitation of the just ;' ' The 
voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles 
of the righteous : the right hand of the Lord doeth 
valiantly ;' ' The Lord will create upon every dwelling 
place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a 
cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming 
fire by night !' What a privilege thus belongs to the 
house of piety ! It may be a lowly hut, entered by 
every wind that blows, and deluged by every wintry 
storm. But there also dwells the Lord of heaven. 
There is ' The Angel of the Covenant,' and there are 
all covenant blessings. O happy beyond conception 
is that family with whom Jesus condescends to live ! 
They can never want — they can never complain of 
solitude — they can never be in difficulties, never in 
despair. The Lord is their God, and he dwells with 
them. He therefore, in all their family arrangements, 
is recognised — in every vicissitude he is trusted — in 
every trial he is appealed to, and after every bereave- 
ment he is an upmaking portion. Beneath that 
humble roof-tree is the family altar. While it stands, 
evil is kept on the outside. It is only when that altar 
is cast down, that the enemy rushes in like a flood, 
and overwhelms every interest in his fury. On the 
contrary, ^ Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord : 
that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the 
labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it 
shall be well with thee. The Lord shall bless thee 
out of Zion ; and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem 



318 THE HIDING PLACE. 

all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy 
children's children, and peace unto Israel.' 

0. God dwells in every rene^ved sodl. 
Though the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, 
yet he dwells with the humble and contrite. The 
Saviour's inhabitation of the pious soul is one of the 
gospel mysteries ; but it is a great and cheering truth. 
It is one of Paul's prayers for the Ephesians, ^ That 
Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith ;' and it is 
one of his questions to the Corinthians, ^ Know ye not 
that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit 
of God dwelleth in youf It is on the memorable 
occasion of Christ's first visit that the sinner becomes 
^a new creature;' and^f he has been growing in 
grace since that hour, it is because the Saviour has 
never left him. He has been a dweller in that soul 
ever since, and by means of his Holy Spirit, has 
carried it, and is carrying it forward in the path of 
life towards life everlasting. ' The temple of God !' 
what a solemn revelation ! In itself this is a great 
trutli. ^Know ye not your own selves,' asks the 
apostle, ^how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be 
reprobates V What an alternative ! If he dwells not 
with us, whatever our religious profession may be, we 
are ' reprobates.' Let us not then refuse to believe 
that the gracious presence of the Saviour is with each 
renewed heart, because to us the doctrine of such in- 
dwelling is incomprehensible. We ought to be assured 
of it from the effects which are produced in every in- 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 319 

stance of actual conversion, from the steady and sure 
progress of religion in every such heart, and from the 
impressive illustrations of holiness which the w^hole 
future life affords. And when we anticipate that ^hour 
and power of darkness/ even our entrance into the 
valley of the shadow of death, let us cherish the 
delightful assurance of David, and say, ^ I will fear no 
evil ; for thou art with me.' Yes, even in death this 
presence shall be our light, our strength, our joy ; it 
shall go with us to our last breath, and its unveiled 
glory shall then burst upon the emancipated and 
enraptured spirit. 

* Sun of my soul ! thou Saviour dear, 
It is not night if Thou be near : 

may no earth-born cloud arise, 
To hide Thee from thy servant's eyes. 

* Abide with me from morn till eve, 
For without Thee I cannot live : 
Abide with me when night is nigh, 

For without Thee I dare not die.' Keble. 



CHAPTER XY 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH . THE LORt) IS THERE. 

PAET II. 

' He endured, as seeing him who is invisible.' 

Hebrews xi. 27. 

Let us now consider the uses, the positive or actual 
uses to which the disciples of Christ must put this 
cheering doctrine of his gracious presence with them 
always and everywhere. It is evident that they can 
derive no comfort from it, unless they know how to 
apply it to their own peculiar conditions in this life. 
In other words, unless they can realise that presence, 
or, as in the scripture, unless they can ' endure, as 
seeing him who is invisible,' the words that have been 
spoken are neither good nor comfortable to them. 
To help them to take the fidlest advantage of this 
privilege, and to fulfil the duty connected with it, we 
shall, first of all, show what is implied in this realisa- 
tion of Christ's gracious presence: and here we 
remark — 



JEHOYAH-SHAMMAH. 321 

1. It implies faith in his divine nature. To 
realise this presence is confessedly a duty, which 
duty, however, is a reUgious difficulty. The christian 
believes it to be a duty, but how to perforin it per- 
plexes him. It is of great consequence, then, that he 
have some clearly defined rule for his guidance. The 
simple believing of the divine omnipresence does not 
meet the difficulty, because we cannot associate the 
semblance of any creature with his essence ; we are 
forbidden to form any likeness of him either actually 
from matter, as idolaters do, or mentally, as if we had 
any form or dimensions with which to compare him. 
And yet every devout man desires to bring his Lord 
immediately before his mind's eye, more especially 
when engaged in acts of worship, where it would be 
felt to be a great relief, if he could so realise as to 
address him with the most friendly familiarity, and as 
it were ^ face to face.' Such was the attainment of 
Moses : ^ And the Lord spake unto Moses face to 
face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.' There was 
in this case very intimate communion ; but it does not 
exactly supply the desideratum referred to ; for in the 
same passage we find that there was something lacking 
still : ' And Closes said, I beseech thee, show me thy 
glory ;' and the Lord said, ^ Thou canst not see my 
face; for there shall no man see me and live.' It is 
indeed alike the dictate of philosophy and of religion, 
that God Mwelleth in light which no man can 
approach unto, whom no man hath seen at any time 



322 THE HIDING PLACE. 

nor can see.' But while all this is ti 
essence, let us be thankful that, in a very encouraging 
sense, we are authorised to think of him as if he could 
be seen, or so to ^ endure, as seeing him.' This is 
peculiarly a privilege of the New Testament church. 
We have revealed to us him who is declared to be 
^ the image of the invisible God,' and who said to his 
disciples, ^ He that hath seen me hath seen the 
Father.' True, Christ no longer dwells among men 
as he did in these ^ the days of his flesh ;' but we can 
all realise the fact of his humanity — we can call up 
to our minds the majesty of his deportment in the 
working of miracles, and the sweetness of his smile in 
blessing the mourner. With the materials for con- 
ception with which the story of the evangelist furnishes 
us, we can realise a form and a glory sufficient to fill 
us with wonder, love, and praise. But it may be 
asked, are we at Hberty, in thinking of a divine 
Redeemer, to admit the idea of his humanity at all? 
would it not be kin to idolatry to worship what we 
identify with our own nature ? Most certainly it 
would ; but to obtain the benefit referred to, this is not 
required. We have only to think of one who, though 
^ found in fashion as a man,' was in reality God ; and 
when thus thinking of Jesus Christ, we are at liberty 
to fall down and adore him, not because he is ' the 
word of God,' but because this Word is God himself. 
Analyse the devout feehngs of the christian in medita- 
tion or communion, and you vdll find, that while the 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 323 

thought of worshipping Christ as man is repudiated, 
yet the great idea of a divine presence is active there. 
When, for instance, we think of heaven and of the 
Eedeemer on his throne, it is a great relief to reaHse 
God in him — very God, dispensing richest mercy. To 
such a mode of thought we are invited when he bids 
us ^honour the Son as we honour the Father.' In 
such an exercise there is perhaps a danger of trespass- 
ing the boundary that separates Deity from humanity, 
and of giving homage to the visible form of the 
glorified Redeemer rather than to the invisible and 
uncreated. Hence the necessity of godly jealousy 
and vigilance over our spirits. At the same time, 
it is not very likely that a truly pious mind will fall 
into such an error. It must be admitted that we are 
entitled to think of Christ's ^ true body,' or to realise 
liim in the form in which he was crucified, and 
while thus meditating, to fall dovni and worship 
this very person as 'Emmanuel, God with us,' or, 
God in our nature. When on earth, his personal 
appearance sometimes commanded the spectator into 
the spirit and attitude of worship. It was the im- 
pression made upon his mind by the sight of the 
hands and pierced side of Christ that drew from 
Thomas the adoring exclamation, ' My Lord and my 
God ! ' and there cannot be a doubt, but that the 
adoring love of the saints above waxes the more 
passionate, that they stand in the very presence of 
* the Lamb that had been slain.' Now, though unto 



324 THE HIDING PLACE. 

US still militant, this sight of Christ's glorified humanity 
be not given, yet it is permitted to us believingly to 
realise this illustrious person, to picture to our minds 
the glorified man Jesus Christ, and to serve and 
worship him accoi'dingly. 

Such a privilege as this is among the most delight- 
ful for which the christian has to bless God. It sup- 
plies a great spiritual vacuum — it satisfies a very 
frequent and strong thirsting in the pious mind, and 
to some extent meets and sets aside a painful, some- 
times a distracting difficulty. Without it, while the 
abstract idea of a God might be entertained, the effort 
to realise some presence upon which the adoring soul 
might fix itself, must for ever have been impossible. 
This is a privilege, too, for which more than mankind 
are indebted to the scheme of mercy. All the angels 
of God, and for anything we can tell, all his intelli- 
gent creatures everywhere, share in this kindly help 
to the comfortable conception of a divine presence. 
That ' all the angels worship him,' we know ; and we 
cannot fail to perceive, that in this exercise they must 
be greatly assisted by the actual appearance, in the 
midst of them, of the incarnate Son of the Highest. 
What those other intelligences may have of this pri- 
vilege we know not, but it is far from improbable 
that they are indulged with some revelation of the 
glories of his mediatorial person. 

But how could such a privilege exist at all, and 
how could believers use it, except upon the under- 



JEHOYAH-SHAMMAH. 325 

standing that the Saviour is divine as well as human? 
Hence we say, that in order to realise him, we must 
Kave strong faith in his deity. Our conceptions of 
the constitution of his person must soar beyond the 
poor thought of the Socinian, that he is only a sinless 
piece of humanity; and far beyond the more ambitious 
thought of the Arian, that he is nothing more than 
the first created and most glorious of all God's crea- 
tures. We must rise into the sublime region of the 
great mystery of godliness, and believe him to be 
' God manifest in the flesh.' In order to this, we 
must rectify our notions and certify our convictions 
by a reasonable study of the evidences of his divinity, 
as these are furnished abundantly in holy scripture ; 
for while this doctrine is essential to the validity and 
efficacy of the atonement, it is also one of the best 
helps to the timid and limited minds of believing men, 
when they would realise his constant presence, and 
luxuriate in the thought of his near and intimate re- 
lationship to them. For this reason we assign to it 
the foremost place in our analysis of the subject. • 

2. It implies the assurance of his friend- 
ship. We cannot realise the gracious presence of 
Christ unless we know and believe him to be merci- 
fully disposed towards us. The kindly presence of an 
enemy is an absurdity. We may fancy his becoming 
our friend, but in this case it is the realisation of a 
fancy, not of a truth — that is, of a foe, but not of a 
friend. So long as we regard him as hostile, we can 

V 



326 THE HIDING PLACE. 

only realise a hostile presence, which is disagreeable, 
and we rather turn away from it. So it is with the 
christian and his Lord. He desires no presence so 
much as Christ's, just because he believes that there 
is no one so friendly to him. He is satisfied that 
Christ will do him no evil, yea rather, that he will 
plentifully fill his cup with all good. It is only when 
unbelieving fears break in, or when consciousness of 
unholiness presses hard upon him, that the presence 
of Jesus becomes disagreeable, and he is disposed to 
say with Peter, ^Depart from me, for I am a sinful 
man, O Lord.' Joseph's brethren ^ were troubled at 
his presence,' because there was uncancelled guilt on 
their consciences. David shpped out of the presence 
of Saul, because he feared his wrath. Haraan was 
afraid at the presence of the king, because he dreaded 
his vengeance; and Job was distressed at the presence 
of God, because he meditated exclusively on his awful 
decrees. Thus it is only when a ^presence' is for 
some reason either a terror or a discomfort, that it is 
shunned rather than courted ; but when the reverse 
is the case, there must be the assm-ance of substantial 
friendship. Hence, when the Psalmist expects it, he 
says, ' I shall yet praise him for the help of his coun- 
tenance ;' when he dreads its loss, he prays, ' Cast me 
not away from thy presence ;' and when he invites all 
people to extol it, he sings, ' Let us come before his 
presence with thanksgiving.' When Christ dwelt 
upon the earth, his presence was often greatly desired. 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 327 

^All men seek for thee,' said his disciples to him. 
'■ Sir, we would see Jesus,' said the Greeks, ^ Come 
down ere my son die,' said the nobleman of Caper- 
naum ; and of the two disciples of Emmaus, it is re- 
corded, *They constrained him, saying. Abide with 
us.' Thus, whatever might be the motive, it appears 
that his presence was much sought after by those who 
believed him to be able and willing to do them a 
service. 

If, therefore, to realise Christ be a great attain- 
ment, let us cherish the conviction that he loves us, 
that he is our very best friend, that we can glean 
nothing from his countenance but the smile that re- 
assures the heart, hsten to nought that drops from his 
lip but ^ the blessing that makes rich,' and take from 
liis hand only the cup that overflows with new cove- 
nant mercies. There cannot indeed be any approach 
to this spiritual exercise independent of such convic- 
tions. It is of a privilege we are speaking; but it 
were no privilege to realise an object we could not 
trust. Yea, it is hell itself in embryo to have the 
conscience shaken throughout its domain at the bare 
thought of God ; for he can be, and is reaHsed by the 
wicked in the prospect of judgment. ^ Our God is a 
consuming fire ' only to those who are not ' in Christ 
Jesus.' To all who have fled to ' the hiding place,' 
he is merciful and gracious. Of what importance, 
then, must such kindly thoughts of Jesus be, when 
their influence reproduces him often to our view, and 



328 THE HIDING PLACE. 

draws us into the most delightful fellowship ! Here 
indeed you have the whole secret of a christian's life 
of faith upon the Son of God, and how it is that he 
is ' all his salvation, and all his desire.' The christian 
has cast out of his heart all suspicions of Christ's 
suitableness, and filled it with the most profound per- 
suasions of his love. He has so disciplined his 
thoughts about Christ, that even the idea of indiffer- 
ence is never associated with his presence. He no 
doubt has his moments of compunction, and none can 
exceed him in godly sorrow for sin ; but not on this 
or on any account, can he become disaffected to his 
Lord's society. There is no society which he prefers 
to it. And wdiyl Because in it he finds salvation, 
and a good title to eternal life. Nay, it is when thus 
grieved on account of his sin, that the presence of 
Christ is the more valuable to him, for in him alone 
he sees his sacrifice of atonement, and is satisfied — in 
him he sees the only friend in all the world to whom 
such as he can go, with whom he can speak in con- 
fidence, and from whom he receives the consoling 
sense of pardon. Yea, by how much the more cast 
down he may at any time be, the more agreeable does 
this presence become ; for Jesus cannot be seen, as a 
christian sees him, without the heart being filled with 
gladness before the approving countenance of God — 
then the disquieting and vexing thought is silenced, 
peace returns, and hope remounts her throne. 

Here, then, is a recipe for all soul-disturbing 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 329 

thoughts of God. Learn to realise Christ's gracious 
presence. Whatever ideas of the overawing majesty 
and hoKness of Jehovah you may have entertained) 
never think otherwise of Jesus Christ than as your 
friend and advocate — not an advocate for your sins, 
but for the pardon thereof, and therefore such a friend 
of your precious souls as you can find nowhere else. 
If you think of God, while you believe not thus in 
Christ, no wonder though you tremble. But believe 
thus in and of Christ, and then even your ^ medita- 
tions on God will be sweet' — you will experience him, 
all holy and all just though he be, to be a God of 
love, and ready to forgive. Ah, it is just that 
separated thought^ that Christless conception of Deity, 
that fills you at present with such terror in the 
anticipation of judgment. You have got your lessons, 
no doubt, about God, but not in the school of Christ. 
We marvel not, then, that your countenance turns 
pale, and your knees smite the one against the other, 
at the veiy mention of his name. But go to Christ, 
as the great teacher of the great God, and he will 
tell you another story altogether about his Father ; 
for ^ no man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and 
he to whom the Son shall reveal him.' He will take 
these natural thoughts and christianise them ; an(^ the 
moment they undergo such a change, you will see 
God and live, you will embrace him as your own 
God and Father in him — of such mighty conse- 
quence are right ideas of Christ himself to the forma- 



330 THE HIDING PLACE. 

tion of correct and pleasing ones of that awful Being 
before whom we are all to appear in judgment. O 
think kindly, then, of Jesus Christ! It is impossible 
to think too kindly of him ; and this will dispose you 
to court and realise his presence as your divine Re- 
deemer ; and when you have attained to this, he will 
speedily educate you in, and convince you of, the 
truth of the great first principle of his religion, 
namely, ' God is love.' 

3. It implies dependence on his grace. Grace 
is what all men need. Unbelieving men need it in 
order that the work of faith may be begun in them. 
By the grace of God alone can the natural heart be 
changed, and the new creature formed. But believ- 
ing men need grace too. They can no more do -with- 
out grace after, than before and at their conversion. 
Eminent as Saul of Tarsus became, he says, ' By the 
grace of God I am what I am.' Now this grace is in 
Christ Jesus. It cannot be had apart from him. It 
reposes in his arm, it is promised in his smile, and it 
is communicated by his hand. He must therefore be 
seen, and knovm, and trusted. Grace is not to be 
had as the rain descends, falling indiscriminately upon 
Hhe evil and unthankful,' as upon the good and 
grateful; nor as the sun shines upon men, without 
respect of persons. It always comes in company with 
its author and finisher. This is a society that is ever 
entire. Wherever grace is, Christ is, and where 
Christ goes, grace follows. This proves that to re- 



jehoVah-shammah. 331 

ceive grace we must admit Christ. In other words, 
when we ' endure as seeing him/ it is presumed that 
we are depending upon him for grace. 

But what is grace ? It is divine help and strength 
communicated for Christ's sake to the beheving soul — 
help to discharge all duties, and strength to resist all 
temptations, and bear all trials. Grace is therefore 
the most precious of blessings. Without it christians 
would speedily lapse into condemnation. When Paul 
had the thorn in the flesh, and was buffetted by the 
messenger of Satan, he besought God importunately 
for deliverance, and received this answer, ' My grace 
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect 
in weakness.' It was not promised that the thorn 
should be extracted or that the messenger should be 
recalled, but that while these remained, he should be 
strengthened to endure them. Upon this he was 
reassured; and why? he relied upon the promised 
grace, and got it. His thorn and his tormentor might 
remain, but so also did his Master's presence; and 
hence his noble burst, ^Most gladly, therefore, will 
I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ 
may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in 
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- 
tions, in distress for Christ's sake; for when I am 
weak, then am I strong.' Here then is the illustration 
of our proposition. Paul earnestly sought Christ's 
presence for the sake of Christ's help or grace, or his 
grace and help for the sake of his presence ; and so 



332 THE HIDING PLACE. 

enraptured was he with both, that he was quite 
content, rather than be deprived of either of them, to 
smart under the thorn and be buffetted by the devil : 
yea, his very pleasures were drawn from his infirmities 
and his trials, just because these were the occasions 
that made Christ's presence necessary and his grace 
sure. 

And so it is in every similar instance. All chris- 
tians have their thorns and their devils ; and when, 
under the power of faith, they realise their Saviour's 
presence, it is because of the grace they need and get. 
In fact, the very sense of his presence is grace itself; 
it cheers, strengthens, and emboldens them. But for 
this grace which they expect, what comfort could they 
derive even from such a presence as his; and for 
what other end could they desire it than its spiritual 
advantages ? The life of faith is threefold : it is life 
in earnest, life in action, and life in production. It is 
life in earnest. All mere formalism is disavowed. 
The era of spiritual death is closed, and the voice of 
the Son of man has alarmed the soul into a sense of 
its ruin ; therefore every look, word, thought, are now 
big with concern about that soul's salvation. It is life 
in action. The wordy or mere professional existence 
has lived its day ; work, work, work is now the con- 
stant burden of the christian's song, and every imple- 
ment of spiritual improvement is seized and plied in 
order to advance personal piety. It is life in production. 
The years of barrenness are past, and all manner of 



JEHOYAH-SHAMMAH. 333 

spiritual fruit is now yielded to the glory of God. 
The soul now leaps to the celestial invitation, ' Sing, 
O barren, thou that didst not bear ; break forth into 
singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with 
child : for more are the children of the desolate than the 
children of the married w^ife, saith the Lord.' Such 
like being the life of faith, from whom does this earnest, 
active, and fruitful spirit draw its supplies ? not from 
within itself, for it is empty ; not from others, for they 
are equally poor; not from ordinances, which in 
themselves have no vital spark ; not from mere 
intellectual appreciations of the plan of mercy, which 
natural minds can attain to and yet despise ; not from 
any one or anything on the earth beneath, but entirely 
from one in heaven above, even Jesus himself. Still, 
to be possessed of this there must be something more 
than mere rational perception of his excellence as a 
mediator. Simple thoughts of his glorious presence 
in heaven will not do ; dreamy sketchings of his 
enthroned majesty will not do ; and even paradisaical 
reveries of the inexhaustible riches of his grace will 
not do. It will not do for the soul to send itself away 
through trances like these to realms of bliss, and 
instead of awakening to life and action here, lullaby 
itself into soothing slumbers among such heavenly 
beatitudes. This will never do. It is this that exiles 
the anchorite, inspires the enthusiast, and maddens 
the fanatic ; but this never made, never can make, a 
christian life. Such a life is maintained bv a stem 



334 THE HIDING PLACE. 

and steady realisation of Christ's presence with us, as 
we battle our way through this weary world. 

Faith in Christ's gracious presence is, therefore, 
exercised for our present needs. No doubt we expect 
to go and be with him in his Father's house ; but this 
only after we have fought our good fight. While 
thus engaged, we desire him to come to us and abide 
with us in 'our earthly house of this tabernacle,' 
because we need him, and cannot do without him. 
Without him every temptation would lay us in the 
dust, every foe would fatally wound us, on every cross 
we should be crucified, and by every loss we should 
be overwhelmed. Therefore, while in this world, we 
must have his presence ; we must have it every day, 
every moment and everywhere. And when by faith 
we are thus realising him in the midst of us, it is that 
we may obtain his ' grace and mercy to help us in 
every time of need.' Great, then, is the christian's 
confidence in his Redeemer. He knows that in 
consequence this dear friend must be ever well 
acquainted with all his wants and woes, which is 
tantamount to an assurance that he can never want 
for any good thing. And thus it is that he ever sings, 
' God is my refuge and strength ; a very present help 
in trouble.' 

4. It implies conformity to his example. In 
realising, we are ' looking unto Jesus ;' but how can 
a beHever look at him and not admire him? And 
who can admire him without being led, as it were 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 335 

insensibly, to imitate him? It is written, that he 
*left us an example that we should follow his 
steps ;' but to copy an example, we must needs 
have it before our eyes, and to follow another implies 
that we see him. Now, when faith realises the 
Lord Jesus, it not only sees every beauty in him that 
he may be desired, but this very exercise of looking at 
or realising him is inseparable from a gradual assimila- 
tion of our nature and character to his nature and 
character. He is holy; we see no sin in him and 
no imperfection of any kind or degree; hence the 
believing regard of this holiness of his, has a sure 
reaction upon ourselves, in working within us all 
holy feelings and desires. He is also, as to his 
character, a being of matchless purity : ' He did no 
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth ;' hence, the 
perpetual presentation to our minds of such an un- 
sullied and brilliant pattern of religious and moral 
excellence, has the certain effect of moulding our 
walk and conversation so as to be a/ac simile of his. 
No doubt in these believing exercises of the christian 
mind upon the Saviour, the divine Spirit is constantly 
at work to render them subservient to progressive" 
sanctification ; hence the apostle, ^ We all, with open 
face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' ' It is the Spirit 
that quickeneth.' In this mysterious co-operation, 
however, where the devout mind works upon a divine 



336 THE HIDING PLACE. 

example, and where the divine Spirit operates through 
this example upon such a mind, the result never fails 
to be a likeness between the disciple and his Master. 
It isj indeed, the law of our nature, that we come ere 
long to resemble that which we very intensely love 
and habitually contemplate. Thus the likeness of the 
child to the parent is not confined to the expression or 
form of the countenance ; it extends also to the 
mental habitudes and the customary manners of the 
parental life ; and this is begotten of filial reverence 
and affection. In the life that is spiritual, the same 
law is in force, but on a much larger scale, and for 
nobler and more lasting ends. The love which the 
christian heart cherishes for the Eedeemer, and the 
profound reverence with which it is filled from its 
meditations on, or its realisations of, his unparalleled 
worth, eventually controls the whole ma;i, outer 
and inner, and the wdiole life of the man, hidden 
and open, social and devout; and not only so, this 
control is felt in every variety of condition, whether 
in joy or in grief, in health or in sickness, in 
living or in dying. Yea, so tenacious of its hold on 
the mind is the influence exerted from this constant 
^ enduring, as seeing Christ who is invisible,' that 
no power whatever can destroy or disengage it; it 
becomes a ruling passion, and is stronger than death. 
When death comes, the assimilation to Christ's image 
which has been going on is absolutely perfected ; for 
when they ^see him as he is,' they are ^like him' in a 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 337 

sense and to a degree which could never be affirmed 
even of the most advanced stage of militant saintship. 
Thus the realisation of Christ's gracious promise 
has an eminently practical effect. Nothing is so prac- 
tical as the transformation of one's very nature into 
the nature of another ; and such is the practical result 
in the process of which we speak. When, then, we 
consider that our ^looking unto Jesus' comprehends 
a believing and admiring study of his life as well as 
a cordial trust in his death, we should certainly be 
careful to give to each department its due amount of 
attention. We are enjoined to be 'conformed to 
Christ's death/ which must mean, to the principles 
on which he acted w^hen he gave himself up to be a 
sacri^ce for sin. And what were these principles ? 
A strong hatred of sin, an eminent regard for holiness, 
a perfectly sincere love to the law and to the justice of 
God, and the strongest possible desire for the glory of 
God the Father. Now to be conformed to these prin- 
ciples, we must study, and constantly realise to our- 
selves, the life as well as the death of Christ ; and by 
so doing we too shall come to imbibe them into our 
very being, and to transcribe them into our entire walk 
and conversation. We never can be- so essentially 
religious as when we drink into the ' spirit of Christ ;' 
and we never can be so actually religious as when we 
place our feet into the very prints of his steps, and 
follow him in the regeneration. The study of the 
principles of moral philosophy, and the contemplation 



338 THE HIDING PLACE. 

of moral grandeur in others, may produce good effects 
upon our own mode of life and conduct ; but these 
are superficial impressions at the best, and their exis- 
tence is short at the longest. To resemble, as to our 
nature, ^the invisible God' in the scriptural, which is 
the real, sense, we must be conformed to the image of 
his dear Son ; and to be continually reflecting as we 
live and move the shining beauties of his holiness, 
we must be ' setting the Lord continually before us.' 
To be unholy, or to be tardy in the growth of holiness, 
is altogether inconsistent with such a realisation of 
the Saviour's presence as we go forward to Zion. 
Hence it has ever followed, that Christianity alone has 
produced what, by comparison, may be called perfect 
characters among men. It is in vain that we search 
among all the records of the past for such specimens of 
disinterestedness, of heroism, of purity, and of power, 
as are furnished out of her repositories. When her 
orbs approach, all other lights disappear. Every sys- 
tem, and every exemplification of mere human ethics, 
have failed to produce perfect characters. But Christ's 
own principles constructed his own life ; and every life 
that is controlled by his, is an additional illustration 
of the intrinsic power of these principles to rear a new 
and a corresponding greatness in the character of 
believing man. Wherefore, let us cease to idolise man 
at his best estate, and withdrawing our eyes from all 
lesser luminaries, let us fix a steady and unfaltering 
look upon Jesus, and upon him alone. 



CHAPTER XYI 



. JEHOVAH^SHAMMAH : THE LORD IS THERE. 

PART III. 

' Thou God seest me.' 

Genesis xvi. 13. 

Let us now hear the conclusion of this matter. 
Since the gracious presence of Jehovah-Shammah is 
so valuable in itself and so much an object of desire 
by the believer, it becomes us to be always ready to 
use the privilege for our spiritual comfort and profit- 
ing. This it behoves us to do at all times.* But 
there are special seasons when the 'realisation^ of 
what we have been hearing is of more than ordinary 
importance. To notice a few of these is the object .of 
this chapter. Christ's presence with us, then, should 
be realised, 

1. On the mount of ordinances. When sinfal 
men would worship God, it must be through a media- 
tor ; and if they would have their worship accepted, 
that mediator must be I'eahsed ; for it is written, ' No 



340 THE HIDING PLACE. 

man cometh unto the Father but by him.' And again, 
'In his temple doth every one speak of his glory.' 
This being admitted, it is evident that we must have 
him distinctly before our minds, or ' endure as seeing 
him' while adoring him. Nothing, of whatever pomp 
and pretension, is worship which is not offered by faith 
in Christ. He himself often declares it : ' I am the 
way;' 'I am the door.' In all our approaches to God, 
then, whether in secret or in public, there must be 
positive recognition of our Surety. We must place our 
hands upon his head as we pass onwards to the foot- 
stool, and 'make mention of his righteousness, even of 
his only.' If we have no respect to his presence as 
mediator, then we sing, pray, preach, hear, and com- 
municate, all in vain. There are two ways particu- 
larly in which his presence in ordinances is indispen- 
sable. It is, first, indispensable to make the religious 
service itself acceptable to God; and, secondly, to 
make it available for our own spiritual edification. 
What poor barren affau'S are ordinances to many ! 
They come to and go from them alike poor and blind. 
This is because no Saviour is ever recognised or em- 
braced in them. They know not Jehovah-Shammah. 
To them the Lord is not there. 

It is presumed that ■\vhen we go to worship God we 
previously recognise the necessity of, and implore his 
presence to be with us. Is it not, then, most obviously 
our duty and our interest, when actually engaged, to 
believe that our Eedeemer has heard us, and that he 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 341 

is actually beside us ? O what a help is this to solem- 
nity of mind, to devotedness of soul, and to spiritual 
improvement ! It is upon the mount of ordinances 
that his glory and beauty are revealed; and when these 
are once seen, they can never be forgotten. ' O Lord, 
thou art my God,' the realising christian exclaims, 
' early will I seek thee ; my flesh longeth for thee in a 
dry and thirsty land, where no water is, to see thy 
power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the 
sanctuary.' Lideed, ordinances are just profitable in 
proportion to the degree of faith exercised in the divine 
presence. Happy indeed is that christian who in his 
closet can so realise Christ as hearing his every whis- 
per, and as giving, -in reply, all needed grace. Happy 
is that man who in the courts of the Lord's house is 
made conscious that God himself is in the midst thereof. 
Happy is he who at the baptismal font, or at the Lord's 
table, loses all thought of the presence of others, keeps 
his mind apart from all sinful cares, and is fully ab- 
sorbed in the grand, the thrilling conviction, that he 
is with Jesus, and that Jesus is with him. Such, 
indeed, is ^an accepted time.' Every text then 
becomes precious, for Christ is there ; every promise 
is sweetness, for Christ is there ; every precept is good, 
for Christ is there ; every fellow-saint is beloved, for 
Christ is there ; every burst of music is delicious, for 
Christ is there ; every prayer is fervent, for Christ is 
there ; every sermon is excellent, for Christ is there ; 
and all the sanctuary services rise higher in his esteem, 



342 THE HIDING PLACE. 

for Christ is in them all. But for this realisation, not 
only would not God accept the offered worship, but 
the entire service would be felt to be ahke cumber- 
some and insipid. Paul himself might be the 
preacher ; the eloquence of Apollos might fill the 
edifice ; the doctrines taught might be sound ; and 
all the encouragements given might be of the highest 
order, but if Christ be not in them, they ^become 
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.' Hence 
it is that thousands derive no benefit fi'om ordin- 
ances. They never think of Jesus. He is to them, 
or in their experience, not there. And hence, too, 
it has often happened, that where all the adjuncts 
and appurtenances in the sanctuary have been exceed- 
ingly plain ; where neither poetry nor painting are in 
any way employed to aid and excite devotion ; where 
the preacher is amongst the most unpretending of 
men, perhaps the persecuted, though patriarch pastor 
of the locality ; where the place of worship itself is the 
hole in the rock, the audience unpolished moun- 
taineers, and the whole insignia of the service is a 
perfect contrast to the imposing solemnities of the 
cathedral — hence, we say, it has often happened that, 
notwithstanding, there the finest minds have been pro- 
duced and educated, the noblest characters formed and 
developed, and the most illustrious and spiritual 
heroes called into being and action. Chkist him- 
self WAS THEKE ! If, then, we would get good out 
of ordinances ; if we asph'e to more devout thoughts 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 343 

in them ; if we would acquire a greater relish for plain 
and faithful preaching, and for honest God-fearing 
and soul- loving ministers ; if we would be less tor- 
mented with intruding worldly thoughts, and not so 
easily put about with trifling occurrences in the 
audience, or occasional slips in the preacher; if, in 
short, we would more richly and fully experience the 
marrow and fatness of gospel institutions, we have but 
one thing to do, and to do it heartily and always ; we 
have but to invoke the presence of the Master, to 
exercise full assurance that he is himself among us, 
and is actually waiting to communicate saving grace. 
2. On the scene of temptatiois. Christians are 
more frequently and powerfully tempted than other 
men, and their temptations are among their bitterest 
afflictions. Other trials they can trace directly to their 
Father's hand, but these can only be forthcoming from 
their own depraved nature, and the artifices of ^ the 
wicked one.' They do not consider themselves to be 
without sin because they believe in Christ, neither do 
they think that they are perfectly free of danger to their 
best interests. They accede to Paul that it is possible 
for them to ' grieve the Holy Spirit of God,' wherefore 
they tremble at the idea of temptation, and watch 
and pray that they may not enter into it. A good 
man is sometimes apt to think, that if he were only 
not tempted to sin, he never should sin ; or, though 
he might indicate occasionally his innate depravity, 
yet would his eiTors be of a venial order, compared 



344 THE HIDING PLACE. 

with those into which he so often falls. Freedom 
from temptation, however, he must not expect while 
here. He is still in the flesh — still within the sphere 
of the devil's influence, and, therefore, tempted he 
shall be, and that often grievously. 

To resist and flee from such temptation, however, 
is duty, and duty which is never so easily and 
effectually discharged as when faith brings the Saviour 
himself upon the darkening scene. When this is 
done, Satan flees, and the temptation loses its power. 
The solemn thought, just at the very moment of 
weakness, and when we are on the eve of surrender, 
that the eye of the Holy One of Israel is upon us, has 
an irresistible influence. At such a time, the remem- 
brance of these words, ^Thou God seest me,' has 
stricken with terror the boldest of the soul's adver- 
saiies. The tercpter may be clothed in the garb of 
an angel of light; the pleasures of sense, the glitter of 
golden heaps, the flatteries of gay deceivers may be 
the bribes, and the ardent passions within may all be 
clamorous for indulgence; but to introduce the Lord 
Jesus into their midst — to realise him as having 
groaned, and bled, and died for sins and for us — to 
command memory to rehearse to us the sorrows of the 
Lamb of God — to instruct imagination to sketch for 
us the bloody sweat, the pierced limbs, and the^cleft 
heart, the haggard featm'es, and the drooping head — 
to give the signal to gratitude to tell us over again 
the melting story of his marvellous love, and, beyond 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 345 

all, to issue orders for the instant admission of that 
lovely sufferer himself into every region of our 
thoughts, and more especially into those infected with 
the tempter's breath ; and to give him freedom to enter 
and examine the interior of our hearts, by throwing 
wide open the gates of the affections there — to do all 
this is almost certain to slay the lust that wars against 
us, and to withdraw us from the spot, exclaiming with 
the young Hebrew, ' How can I do this great wicked- 
ness, and sin against God ?' O what lover of the Son 
of Mary could deliberately do iniquity before his very 
eyes ? Suppose Jesus to return to the world, and to 
be your daily companion, think you the thought and 
purpose of uncleanness could win your consent for a 
moment? Could you swear, steal, lie, cheat, be 
drunken, unchaste, or sordid ? Impossible ! you reply; 
the very consciousness of his holy look, the sight of his 
matchless beauty, the idea of his unparalleled pity, the 
pathos of his friendly voice, the very music of his foot- 
step, and the eloquent appeal of his whole demeanour, 
would be enough to drive such unrighteousness far, 
far hence. And is sight or sense of loftier sway over 
your souls than the grace of faith ? It ought not to 
be so. On the spiritual field of personal holiness, far 
higher exploits have been done by faith, than have ever 
been narrated of the mere influence of the carnal sense. 
It was not when Christ tabernacled among men, and 
when their eyes and ears actually saw and heard him, 
that the christian church rose into greatness, and illus- 



346 THE HIDING PLACE. 

trated its matchless excellence by innumerable con- 
quests over the wildest passions of our nature. It was 
after his ascension, and when faith, not sight, was left 
to maintain the combat. If, then, we feel that in his 
actual presence we could not sin, let us rejoice that 
we hold in our possession this power of reahsing that 
presence in its most precious bearings upon our wel- 
fare, and that we thus can wield an influence against 
temptation which is certain to carry us untouched 
through the most fiery ordeals of this wilderness; 
* for this is the victory which overcometh the world, 
even our faith.' 

3. On the thkeshold of spiritual declen- 
sion. The christian is not at all times flourishing. 
Even his life of faith has its vicissitudes and critical 
periods. Upon the whole, his religion certainly makes 
way. Indeed there is a sense in which it never retro- 
grades, so that at the end of his life he will be seen to 
have progressed, and to be nearer to perfection, than 
he ever was at any former period. Still he sufiers 
alternations. At one time all the graces are in hopeful 
exercise, and at other times some of them are inactive ; 
at one time he is fully assured, at another time he 
cries out, ^Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief;' at 
one time any person may see that he is making decided 
progress in the beauties of holiness, and at another 
it would be diflicult to say whether in him rehgion was 
living or dead. At one time he is very happy in his 
experiences, and at another he is conscious of much 



JEHOVAH-SHASIMAII. 347 

spiritual discomfort. There are ups and downs in 
s])iritual being, though in the main there is a gradual 
rising to the stature of perfection in Christ. 

Such, however, are not the most painful and alarm- 
ing of the spiritual revolutions of a good man's life. 
These are unimportant compared with those sad de- 
clensions of piety to which he is prone. Yes ; he has 
seasons which, when tried beside others, exhibit a 
lamentable change in the wrong direction. Not only 
is there no progress, but it appears as if there was a 
strong determination to the coldness and stiffness of a 
worldly life, as if former professions had been insincere, 
former fears delusive, and former joys a cheat or a 
lie. This is really the most humihating period in the 
history of genuine godliness; and it has often occurred, 
spreading confusion among the friends of religion, and 
making the enemies of all religion triumph over what 
they think to be discovered hypocrisy and contemptible 
cant. Perhaps there are few christians who cannot 
remember such periods in their past experiences, and 
who have not had to lament and weep over their spi- 
ritual barrenness. No doubt the declension, such as 
it was, was in every instance arrested, as in every 
instance w^e believe it was permitted for good. But 
how was it arrested ?^ By the Good Shepherd alone, 
who has many ways of ^ restoring the soul.' The re- 
membrance of himself, however, is by far the most 
powerful of them all. ^ I remembered God, and was 
troubled,' said Asaph. The Israelites, for their com- 



348 THE HIDING PLACE. 

fort, ' remembered that God was their rock, and the 
high God their Redeemer.' Said Jonah, ' When my 
sonl fainted, I remembered the Lord.' When the cock 
crew, Peter ^remembered the words that Jesus spake.' 

We must despair of any man who can resist the in- 
fluence that issues from this realisation. If this does 
not recall the backslider, what shall ? But it is im- 
possible for a believer in Jesus to resist it. He returns 
from his backsliding in that moment that he occupies his 
mind with the love and sufferings of the Saviour, and 
with the remembrance of the days of sweet communion 
gone by. By this he receives a check to his careless- 
ness, a chide to his ingratitude, and a spur to his obe- 
dience. To all, then, who are either conscious of such 
declension being begun, or who dread its approach, we 
would most earnestly recommend the practice of hold- 
ing regular fellowship with Jehovah-Shammah. This 
will be to them a powerful memento of obligation, of 
vows, of experiences. This will shame them out of 
spiritual lethargy, and urge them into spiritual action. 
This will alarm them when stepping on the slippery 
places, and hasten them over to the solid and good old 
paths. This will emancipate them from the influences 
that led to the evil, and place them under the power- 
ful attraction of the Cross. ^ 

4. In the night of spiritual darkness. Such 
a night occasionally sets in upon the people of God. 
iind what is a night of spiritual darkness? In such 
a night, we may say, all men were born ; for all are 



jehovah-sha:mmah. 349 

by nature the ^ children of darkness.' And if they are 
never * born again,' their whole life is just one long, 
long night, in which they sleep the sleep of spiritual 
death, and awaken only to find themselves in the more 
deadly region of the lost. But when men are con- 
verted, they are translated into the kingdom of light, 
and for the most part their succeeding years are spent 
in the enjoyment of that light which God ' sows for 
the righteous.' They live ' in the light of his coun- 
tenance' — ^in his light they see light' — in God him- 
self they dwell, ' and in him is no darkness at alL' All 
this is true ; but so is this, that these very persons some- 
times encounter a night of spiritual darkness in which 
they go about 'mourning as without the sun.' It is, 
however, a night of very different materials from that 
of the natural man. In his night there is no moon or 
star to relieve the surrounding gloom ; and though 
it be indeed a grievous thing for hours, and even years, 
to drag through its dreary w^atches, yet are not its 
horrors so intolerable in consequence of its having been 
preceded by no day. The spiritual night of a believer 
is one in which he feels as if he had lost his lamp ; or 
rather, as if his sun had gone down, leaving him to 
grope about in the dark, as if he had never had the 
benefit of his cheering rays. He has not now so pal- 
pably a sense of the love of God ; he cannot plead 
the gracious promises as he w^as wont, the sweetness has 
gone out of them, and their strength has failed ; even 
Calvary and its bleeding victim only unfold the dark- 



350 THE HIDING PLACE. 

iiess that once overspread the ninth hour, instead of 
pouring forth the meridian splendour of a finished 
redemption. In a word, he believes still, but his faith 
only torments him; he prays still, but his prayers 
return unto him void ; he still goes up to the sanc- 
tuary, but its services are only torturing mementos of 
joys clean gone for ever. And all this is the more 
alBictive and stunning to him that he has known by 
experience what it is to live in the smile of reconciling 
love. He has seen Hhe Star that came out of Jacob,' 
and he has gazed with faith's eagle eye upon the Sun 
of Eighteousness itself. But if this spiritual night of 
his implies a previous day, which only aggravates his 
misery, it also promises a dawn— the dawn, too, of a 
morning when he shall again see his Lord, and rejoice. 
His spiritual necessity, then, endures but for a night ; 
his spiritual joy comes in the morning. Such nights 
are generally short; and christians have it in their 
power, if not to prevent them, to make them less dis- 
mal, and shorten their duration. Let them only deter- 
mine to realise more constantly the gracious presence 
of their Lord ; and if they succeed, it is likely no such 
darkness shall ever encompass them ; for what cloud 
can obscure that on which his smile is falling? The 
darkness of the christian is, after all, not the setting 
or absence of their sun ; it is only a temporary obscura- 
tion — some ugly opaque w^orldly object has come in 
between them and it, which one ray of the ' morn- 
ing star' never fails to drive away. Only let them 



JEHOVAH- SHAMMAH. 351 

never part company with their Lord — let them labour 
hard to reach the full assurance of his unalterable love 
for them ; only let them call without ceasing upon 
him, and without doubting, leave the charge of all 
their affairs to him ; and they are certain to see the 
clouds passing off, and soon to find themselves, in the 
elevations of their faith, carried far up even to the top 
of the high mountains, from which they descry their 
goodly heritage. 'The burden of Dumah ! he calleth 
to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? 
watchman, what of the night ? The watchman said. 
The morning cometh, and also the night ; if ye will 
inquire, inquire ye ; return, come.' 

5. In the season of tribulatiox. ' Many are 
the afflictions of the righteous,' and many are the 
sources from which these spring; some from out of 
godly sorrow for sin, and many from the trials and 
vicissitudes of life. Those that issue from the former 
are exceedingly bitter. But there is ever one remedy 
sufficient to mitigate, if not to remove them. When 
the sense of sin oppresses a christian, it must be be- 
cause he has ceased to realise Christ's presence. Let 
him just send and bring back his Saviour, and all his 
tears shall be wuped away. No behever can continue 
to be distracted by a sense of sin when he gazes upon 
the eye, and into the heart of Christ. The smile in 
that eye proclaims a pardon, and the blood of that 
heart washes out pollution. The conclusion is thus 
irresistible. The sorrowing penitent rises from the 



352 THE HIDING PLACE. 

ashes ; he obeys the commandment, ^ Be of good 
cheer ;' and goes on ^ his way again, rejoicing.' 

The tribulations of christians that issue from the 
vicissitudes of Hfe are indeed also very distressing, 
leading them to cry out, ^ Is it nothing to you, all ye 
that pass by ; behold and see if there be any sorrow 
like unto my sorrow, which is done unto ,me, where- 
with the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce 
anger ? ' Yes ; it is the christian that is often pierced 
through with many sorrows. Death sends shaft after 
shaft among the lambs of his fold, and the friends of 
his circle. Disease enfeebles, disfigures, or disables 
his frame ; and to him are appointed many days and 
nights of sore weariness. Calumny also shoots out 
her tongue upon his reputation; adversity spoils his 
goods — ' naked came he out of his mother's womb,' 
and he is likely ^ naked to return thither again.' But 
it is remarkable that he has comfort in the midst of 
all. He never loses sight of his best Friend, who, 
though he was dead, is alive again, and never leaves 
nor forsakes him. He gives his body to the same 
Physician who has healed his soul ; and so engaged 
is he about the cure of the latter, that he is not over- 
anxious about the former. He sees no frown, and hears 
no reproof, from Christ ; and though his riches may 
have fled away, he ever holds in his grasp ^ the pearl 
of great price.' Thus, it is the realisation of Christ's 
presence that comforts and sustains him in the furnace. 
He can bear the loss of all things, so long as he has 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 353 

Christ ; jea, he is scarcely sensible of any pain while 
he tastes the joy of his Lord. He hesitates to admit 
a loss while he can call Jesus his ; and his highest 
boastj while one wave after another dashes stormily 
over him, is, that though ^he passes through the 
waters,' Christ is witli him ; and through the rivers,' 
they do not overflow him; and ^through the fire,' 
he is not burnt; nor do the flames kindle upon 
him; for he exclaims, ^The Lord is my God; the 
Holy One of Israel is my Saviour !' 

6. In the valley of the shadow of death. 
It is appointed unto the righteous, as well as unto the 
wicked, ^once to die.' True, it is only once, but 
then, in that once what a complex^ what an appalling 
work is to be done ! Nature resiles from it, yea, we 
may say, abhors it. 

' The "weariest and most loatbed worldly life 
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment 
Can lay on nature is a paradise 
To what we fear of death.' 

Not so, however, is it with the sanctified man. He 
has correct ideas of what death is to every one who 
dies ^in the Lord.' He knows Him whose death has 
unstung death, and whose resurrection has got the 
victory over the grave. Hence he is' not only not 
afraid of it, but he says, ^ I loathe it ; I would not 
live alway;' ^I have a desire to depart and to be 
with Christ, which is far better.' His faith in Him 



354 THE HIDING PLACE. 

who is ^the resurrection and the life/ and in that 
life and immortality which have been brought to 
light in the gospel, is just as good to him as the 
summit of Nebo was to Moses; and being fully- 
assured of the validity of his title to a mansion in the 
skies, he waits, even with desire, for the approach of 
the messenger who is to put him into actual possession. 
Still, even to good men, there is something deeply 
solemnising in that event which fixes their everlasting 
destiny ; and when they at length do enter the dark 
vale, they would sink under the terrors of nature but 
for the exercises of religion. And what are these? 
These are, the trust which the soul places in Him 
who hath abolished death, in its cause and in its 
results; the firm hold which it takes and keeps of 
his rod and staff, who hath promised to be with it in 
the last distressing hour ; the sublime realisation, in 
short, of Christ's own gracious presence with it in the 
final struggle, and in the iuipending triumph. O, 
there never was a genuine believer or a dying saint 
so beset with clouds, but the admission of Jesus 
instantly gave light ; and if darkness still brooded, it 
was because this realisation was suspended. Christ 
is a light shining in a dark place. The valley of 
death is as dark a place as one can enter; but if Christ 
be there, all is light in the Lord. 

* The chamber where a good man meets his fate 
Is privileged beyoad the common walk 
Of virtuous life— quite on the verge of heaven.' 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 355 

The extraordinary fortitude with which some meet 
death, and the triumphant peace in which others ac- 
tually die, cannot be accounted for otherwise, than 
that they are spiritually seeing some glorious and 
powerful friend beside them. Assuredly it is no trifle 
for a believer to draw his latest breath — even he may 
cry out, ^ Alas, for that day is great ; it is even the time 
of Jacob's trouble.' But he has resources within and 
without himself He has his Lord within him, ' the 
hope of glory.' He has his Lord above him, the 
evening star. He has his Lord beneath him, the 
sure and tried foundation. He has his Lord around 
him, the invulnerable shield. He has his Lord be- 
yond him, the merciful forerunner. And he has his 
Lord in glory beckoning on him to arise and come 
away. What a splendid and comprehensive realisa- 
tion is this ! One feels that if able to accomplish such, 
we could hail death with rapture. And why not be 
able? When your time comes to die, O christian 
reader, you have not much to do to accomplish this : 
you have only to believe in Christ's presence with 
you, and tliere he is, nearer to your bedside than the 
dearest friend that watches and weeps over your de- 
parting spirit, and administering to your soul all those 
consolations which no love of man, woman, or angel 
could impart. Yes, there he is, ' in you,' and ' with 
you ;' and there you are, ' in him,' and ' with him,' his 
strength your strength, his joy your joy, and his glory 
your glory. To be able to realise Him after this man- 



356 THE HIDING PLACE. 

ner, in one's dying moment, as a friend we have long 
known, loved, trusted, and served, is beyond contro- 
versy one of the greatest attainments of christian piety ; 
and you may all attain to it, if you would only set 
about appreciating a Saviour's boundless worth, and 
cultivating an endearing intimacy with him. Only 
cleave and cling to him now, and you will find that he 
will cling and cleave to you then ; only study well his 
mediatorial work and worth now, and you will find, 
that on a deathbed, the learning you thus acquire 
shall be the only learning you will remember or care 
about — the only learning indeed of the slightest use to 
you. Erudite scholars and enthusiastic philosophers 
are students of perishable systems which mock their 
affrighted spirits as eternity draws nigh ; they are 
only students for life^ and so when life ends, their 
studies end too. But the christian studies an imper- 
ishable science, inasmuch as he is the disciple of an 
immortal teacher ; he is therefore a student for eter- 
nity ; and so when the clock of time has run out, he 
has the principles at hand which powei-fiilly support 
him. His telescope is as useful now as ever ; he used 
it for the survey of a spiritual world, and he can use 
it still. The constellations of his firmament go not 
out with his last breath. His powers of analysis are 
as much in request as ever ; they were applied to the 
mystery of redeeming love, and into it they will still 
look, even after the curfew has tolled the knell of his 
adieu to life. His di^ane preceptor not only has given 



JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. 357 

to him immortal truths, but he remains to the end 
their infalHble exponent, so that the course of chris- 
tian study is not tantalised at its close, by unexpected 
and mortifying -discoveries of untenable theories, and 
is never found weeping over systems exploded by the 
experiments of new-born philosophies— is never found 
writhing under the lash of self-convicted folly in the 
past, and of utter hopelessness now of recovering time. 
Many learned men have died alike ashamed of their 
authorities, and of themselves the dupes thereof. They 
have left the world denouncing their teachers as im- 
postors, casting away their inventions as toys which 
answer not the requirements of an immortal soul at 
such a time. But no christian can so die. In his 
last moments his authority is as great and infallible 
as ever — the imperishable nature of his hope is more 
evident than ever to his mind, and the truthfulness 
and suitableness of Jesus, while deepened in his con- 
victions, are the grand and ever-present sources to 
him of that unfading hope, which, without a single 
falter, sublimely waits the moment that puts Hfe and 
immortality into his hands. 

Such is certain to be the blessed result to all who, 
when dying, have this learning, and this abihty to 
realise and depend upon the Son of God. Who, then, 
would waste a lifetime, and spend the higher and the 
lower powers of the intellect upon mere evanescent 
curiosities in what is called literature; or upon strange 
and unearthly arcana in the temples of that hero-wor- 



358 THE HIDINa PLACE. 

ship wliich has led awaj some of the finest minds of 
the age from the school of the cross, and from the 
feet of Him who died there? None, surely, who 
have power to think out a great idea like that of 
Christianity, who have spiritual refinement enough to 
see the untellable worth of a deathless soul. None in 
whom remains one vestige of regard for the Almighty 
Creator, one shred of respect for their own futurity, 
one stray affection even, still feeling its way to some 
mercy-seat, still breathing, however feebly, in the 
fear, that after all, salvation is no dream, Christ no 
impostor, death no joke, and judgment no bugbear. 
Whosoever, therefore, would die in that peace and 
comfort which are but the foretastes and the fore- 
runners of heaven, must immediately so think of, and 
so love and trust in, Jesus Christ, that to them it 
will be both easy and consistent to realise at once his 
gracious presence, and rejoice in the hope of 
sitting down beside him at the Lord's right hand. 
This, and this alone, shall dissipate the terrors of 
death. This, and this alone, shall tune your dying 
voice to the paeans of victory. This, and this alone, 
shall fill your hearts with untrembling fortitude, and 
qualify you for leaving behind you to the world, and 
to the church, another legacy wherewith to enrich 
the evidences of Christianity, and wherewith to endow 
the spiritual temples of God, that are to be reared 
after your own translation to the new Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER XYII 



THE IMPROVEMENT. 

' I flee unto thee to hide me,' 

Psalm cxliii. 9. 

Reader ! is the above exclamation, of the Psalmist 
a truthful description of thy present feehngs, now 
that thou hast perused these simple but sincere efforts 
to show unto thee the way of escape from the wrath 
and curse of an offended God? If it be so, then 
happy art thou, from this time henceforth, and for 
ever ; for ' the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee,' 
and hath fulfilled in thy gracious experience these 
precious words, ^I will establish my covenant with 
him.' K it be so, then the following analysis of thy 
consciousness in this matter must be held as the cor- 
rect development of the spiritual process through 
which thou hast been passing. Whereas at the first 
thou wert careless about thy soul, knew not of its 
guilt, and sought after no Saviour from the dreadful 
consequences of sin, thou hast had thine eyes opened 



360 THE HIDING PLACE. 

to see thine own worthlessness and helplessness, and 
thou art now ready to acknowledge that thou wert 
deservedly condemned to die, and if left to thyself, 
must of necessity have perished for ever : thou hast 
been made to fear and tremble under conscious guilt, 
and to cry out in great alarm about thy soul, ' What 
shall I do to be saved!' thou hast listened to the 
offers of mercy and pardon through Jesus Christ, 
and hast seen in his obedience and death what per- 
fectly suits thy case, meets all the claims which 
divine law and justice have upon thee, and gives thee 
an irresistible plea with God, for the forgiveness of 
eveiy sin already committed or yet to be committed, 
and in the end for a perfectly safe if not a perfectly 
peaceful death, to be followed by an eternal life of 
purity and joy, of honour and glory. Moreover, if it 
be so, thou hast given up thyself to the Lord Jesus, 
to be governed by him, to be used by him, and to be 
made ^ complete in him' — to be governed by him in 
all thy thoughts, words, and actions, having no will 
of thine own, but delighting perpetually to do his 
will ; to be used by him in the surrender of thy bodily 
powers, of thy spiritual energies, and of all thou hast 
of time, treasure, zeal, and influence, towards the 
promotion of his cause among those with whom thou 
hast to do ; and to be made ' complete in Mm ' in 
submitting thine entire moral and religious nature to 
the sanctifying influence of his precious blood, to the 
enlightening powder of his sacred scriptures, to the 



THE IMPROVEMENT. 361 

spiritualising tendency of his varied providences, to 
the elevating and inspiring hopes of the kingdom of 
heaven, and in all these things, to the teaching and 
blessing of the Holy Ghost sent down from above. 
If it be so, then thou feelest that thou art no longer 
^ thine own' — that thou hast no wish ever again to 
live as if thou wert ^ thine own ' — that to be Christ's 
is at once thy chiefest joy and most exalted privilege, 
thy most powerful motive to live nearer to God, and 
to do more for God ; and thy everlasting fountain of 
comfort in sorrow, of strength in weakness, of counsel 
in difficulties, and of hope unto and beyond death 
and the grave. If it be so, then it is thine to over- 
come the love of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and 
the pride of hfe ; thou art happier now in the ' liberty 
wherewith Christ hath made thee free,' than thou 
ever wert when indulging in all manner of licentious- 
ness; and that which once truthfully described thy 
sensations in sinning has now become a misnomer, 
for to thee ^ the pleasures of sin ' have become tortures 
and humiliations of spirit, from which, with haste and 
terror, thou fleest unto Jesus, that he may ^ hide thee.' 
The days of thy ^ chambering and wantonness,' of thy 
dull and inactive life as to the requirements of reli- 
gion, and of thy mad sporting with the interests of 
thine immortal soul, are over and gone, and now the 
beauties of holiness have fascinated and bound thy 
heart at once to the law and to the cross of Christ. 
This life thou feelest to be valuable only as it is used 



362 THE HIDING PLACE. 

to prepare thee for the next; so absorbed art thou 
with an awful eternity, that the passing years seem 
to thee to be but ^ a vapour/ or a ^ weaver's shuttle,' 
or ^a tale that is told.' To look back is hateful, 
except as the past may preach to thee constant cause 
of repentance, and humility, and self-abnegation; to 
look forward is to anticipate large advancements in 
heavenly-mindedness during thy sojourn here, diligent 
application to all the means of grace, and rapturous 
realisation of the celestial blessedness. And if it be 
so, then be congratulated now on thy second birth, 
on thy ' translation from darkness to light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God.' Thy worst, in every 
sense of the word, is over ; thou art now ' in Christ 
Jesus' — he will ^hide thee.' It matters not who 
pursues thee, in him thou art safe. When the holy 
law searches for thee ' in that day,' and finds thee in 
him — when the inflexible justice of Heaven searches 
for thee, and finds thee in him — when thine own 
conscience searches for thee, and finds thee in him — 
when the angels search for thee, and find thee in him 
— and when God himself arises and searches for thee, 
and finds thee in him, then by that law and justice 
thou shalt be pronounced ' Not Guilty ; ' by thy con- 
science thou shalt be congratulated on thy justifica- 
tion ; by the angels thou shalt be hailed as a kindred 
spirit, and by the Lord God Almighty thou shalt be 
embraced and crowned as one of his adopted family, 
and as ' a joint heir ' with Jesus Christ. Happy man ! 



THE IMPROVEMENT. 363 

let thy gratitude break forth into singing ; and in 
the meanwhile, ever clothed with humility, yet fill 
thou the vault of heaven with the high praises of thy 
Jehovah-Jireh, who has provided all these good things 
for thee, and by whose grace thou art what thou art. 
But what if it be not so ? What if the reader 
remains in unbelief and impenitence? O pitiful — 
O shameful condition ! On the supposition that thou 
art to hve and to die in it, there remaineth for thee no 
other salvation. Greater is thy guilt than that of the 
men of Sodom and Gomorrah, and more appalling 
shall be thy latter end ; for saith the apostle, ^ If we 
sm mlfully after that we have received the know- 
ledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice 
for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adver- 
saries. He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy under two or three witnesses : of how much 
sorer pmiishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and 
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace V Dear 
reader ! be persuaded to revolve again and again the 
solemn and serious truths of this humble treatise, 
written for thy soul's good, and now urged upon thee 
that thou mayest live and not die — flee unto Jesus, 
AND he will hide THEE ! That thou hast not as 
yet fled to him, is a clear proof that thou art not con- 



364 THE HIDING PLACE. 

vinced of the peril that overhangs thee — it is impos- 
sible that thou couldst thus remain insensible to the 
Saviour's matchless worth, if thou knewest how near 
is the sword of justice, how appalling are the mes- 
sengers of divine vengeance, and how far thou art, in 
thyself, from every place of refuge. Thou wilt know 
the distance better when thou takest to running in 
the day of God's wrath. But theuy running and fleeijig 
must be useless; for the door of ^the hiding-place' is 
shut, and the deluge approaches. That door, however, 
is at this moment open — thou hast nothing to do but 
to enter, and within thou wilt find ^ all things ready.' 
There thou wilt be welcomed by Jehovah-Jesus, 
whose smile will tell thee that he is ' the Lord thy 
God' — there Jehovah- Jireh will spread out before 
thee his richest promises for thy safety and comfort — 
there Jehovah-Tsidkenu will order for thee ^ the best 
robe,' and put it upon thee, hiding in it the shame of 
thine own nakedness, and making thee ^ comely in his 
comeliness' — there Jehovah-Rophi will wash thee in 
his living waters, mollify thy wounds with ointment, 
and heal all thy diseases — there Jehovah-Shalom will 
breathe upon thee, and diffuse delicious peace through- 
out all thy soul — there Jehovah-Nissi will spread over 
thee the banner of his love, and cause thee to triumph 
over all thine enemies — and there Jehovah-Shammah 
will insure thee, in his own gracious presence, to be 
with thee to the end of all thy warfare, through the 
midst of all thy trials, when thou passest through the 



THE IMPEOVEMEXT. 365 

waters of Jordan, and when tliou landest on the shores 
of Canaan. 

Say, is it not most unreasonable that in defiance of 
all thy necessities and of all this manifold provision 
for them, thou shouldest refuse to ' hide' thyself in 
Christ ? Speak, reader, speak but one word in self- 
justification, and it shall be considered. Thou art 
silent — thou hast not one word to say on thine own 
behalf. No wonder; for what can be said in excuse 
or iu palliation of a spiritual suicide like thine ? Re- 
fusing to believe in Jesus, is in fact a putting to death 
of thy soul — while coming to and abiding in him, is to 
possess thyself of life everlasting; ana yet thou wilt not 
flee. O look behind thee, and thou shalt see the 
avenger of blood coming hurriedly upon thee. Haste 
thee, sinner, else thou art lost ; for quick as lightning 
is the divine wrath ; when once its fire begins to burn, 
blessed are all they that are hid in him. ^Escape, 
then, for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay 
thou in all the plain : escape to the mountain, lest 
thou be consumed.' Look on either side, and thou 
shalt see that thou art hemmed in by the unscalable 
walls of judicial condemnation, and cannot find 
escape either on the right hand or on the left. Look 
above thee, and the frown of an angry God, like some 
dark and menacing cloud, is ready to burst upon thee 
in its holy ire. Look beneath thee, and behold a 
yawning hell eager to draw thee down into its unut- 
terable woes. But look before thee, and thou shalt 



366 THE HIDING PLACE. 

' behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of 
the world/ with arms outstretched to embrace thee, 
with a heart panting after thy soul to hide it beneath 
his mercy-seat in the ark of his covenant, and with 
thy blood-signed and blood-sealed title to pardon, 
purity and peace now, and perfect bliss hereafter, un- 
folded on that mercy-seat, and awaiting thine accept- 
ance. Behold Him ! He is the Son of the Highest 
— the AYord of God — God himself — God in thy na- 
ture — God incarnate in thy stead ! Behold Him ! 
He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief — he 
is wounded for tJiy transgressions, and bruised for thine 
iniquities — he is mocked, and buffeted, and spit upon, 
and scourged — he is agonised, and in his agony his 
whole body weeps tears of blood ; and all this because 
tJiou hast sinned and art still sinning against his God 
and thy God. Behold Him ! He is nailed to an ac- 
cursed tree — he is the laughing-stock of the brutal 
soldiery, and the butt of Jewish spite — he is now 
treading the wine-press of his Father's wrath alone — 
the sun hides his face, and supernatural darkness 
reigns over all the land — the earth quakes, the rocks 
are rent, the vail of the temple bursts open in the 
midst, and the very graves discover their loathsome 
tenants, while a cry more mysterious and appalling 
than any which ever broke upon the ear of God or of 
man, rises from the tortured Jesus on the cross of 
Calvary : ^ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me V Behold Him ! He is now a pale and mangled 



THE IMPROVEMENT. 367 

corpse^ — his spirit is gone, and the great atonement 
for thy sins is made, is finished, is accepted — made by 
thy substitute, finished on his cross, and accepted of 
the righteous Lawgiver — hut refused hy thee, O infatu- 
ated man ! Is it possible? Accepted of the God whom 
thou hast offended, and whose curse is upon thy soul, 
and refused by thee ! Yes, Oh man, whosoever thou 
art, there is no such thing as infatuation in the world, 
if thou art not possessed of it. Think — think again 
and again over this thy condition, and say can there 
be one of greater iniquity and of more impending 
peril? Who is this that thou despisest and rejectest ? 
Jesus the Son of God and the Saviour of mankind. 
What is it that thou refusest ? The justification of 
thine own soul fi'om all its sins, and the grace that is 
sure to rectify all its errors, remove all its pains, and 
fill it with the joy and peace of believing. And who 
art thou that darest thus to treat thy Saviour and his 
great salvation ? A poor, wretched, blind, and naked 
creature — the slave every moment of debasing lusts — 
the sport of devils, and the football of a world lying in 
wickedness — yea, thou art the doomed one and the 
condemned — the imprisoned and helpless victim of a 
law that must have death for its penalty, and that can 
by no means clear the guilty. And is it for such an 
one as thou art thus to despise the riches of God's 
grace, and for one moment longer to turn away from 
the only ^ hiding place ' where thou art safe from all 
the consequences of thy sins ? 



368 THE HIDING PLACE. 

God forbid ! yea rather be persuaded to flee unto 
him, and he will ^hide thee.' Dost thou inquire, 
When ? must it be now, or may I defer it till some 
more convenient season? Beware of delay, sinner. 
There is no promise that the door of mercy is to be 
open beyond the present moment — hence the emphasis 
of that scripture ; ^ Now is the accepted time ; behold 
now is the day of salvation.' Ponder these words; 
they distinctly tell thee that there is a time when God 
will accept of thee ; but that time is of the smallest 
conceivable amount — the present moment — not the 
next, but now. They tell thee that there is a day of 
salvation ; but it is the shortest day of which we have 
ever heard — just the present moment — not the next, 
but now. In other times there may be days and years, 
and ages — in ^ the accepted time ' there is but a mo- 
ment. In other days there may be minutes and hours — 
in ' the day of salvation ' there is but a moment. True, 
many have tried like thee to elongate God's accepted 
and salvation times, and have hazarded their souls 
upon the profane experiment, and they have perished 
in consequence. O foolish man, eschew the sin and 
fate of Felix, who bargained for a future opportunity, 
but to whom no such opportunity ever came. Now — 
at this moment — while thou readest these appeals, fall 
down upon thy knees, and, ^ looking unto Jesus,' cry 
out, ^ God be merciful to me a sinner.' Wait not 
till to-morrow ; ^ for thou knowest not what a day may 
bring forth.' Before another sun goes down, thy soul 



THE IMPROVEMENT. 369 

may be required of thee. Should it be so, what wilt 
thou do, or think, or say ? Do what thou pleasest, 
think as thou canst, and say what thou art inclined to, 
it will be all in vain — whereas the hiding place? Gone ! 
Gone for ever ! And thou wilt have thyself to blame ; 
for thou knewest that it was only promised to thee 
now — at this moment — and thou wouldst not enter. 
Yea, thou wast expressly told that it might be shut 
to-morrow, and yet thou saidst to thy soul, ^ Soul, 
thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take 
thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' Eeader! on 
these rocks of procrastination and presumption, innu- 
merable souls have been wrecked and lost ; and there 
is a high degree of probability that thine own shall 
suffer the same fate, if thou dost not put on a bold 
resolution, and at once flee unto this wonderful Man, 
who is ^ as an hiding place from the wind, and covert 
from the tempest.' May God even now fill thy soul 
with such a purpose, and give thee grace to arise, and 
swiftness of foot to flee unto him that he may ' hide 
thee !' O resist the temptations of Satan, and of the 
world, which powerfully plead for delay ; cast them 
boldly behind thy back ; and before they can return 
to confront thee with their impudence, and weaken 
thy purpose with their smiles, thou may est be out of 
their reach, for ever safe and happy within thy ^ hiding 
place.' Yes ; when once there, thou mayest hear 
them, now gnashing their teeth with rage at thy 
escape, and now raising their syren voices to win thee 



370 THE HIDING PLACE. 

back ; but the spell of their enchantment passes not 
through the walls of thy divine refuge, nor can their 
muttered wrath injure now a single hair of thine head. 
Once ' in Christ Jesus/ and there is to thee ' no more 
condemnation;' and ^neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate you from the love 
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 

What, then, is thy resolution ? Hast thou refused 
to flee ? Is this sun to set upon thee still in thy un- 
belief—still ^out of Christ? Then know thou, O 
despiser of the infinitely lovely Saviour, that thou wilt 
never again be so easily persuaded as thou art at this 
moment — thy heart is already harder, and thy con- 
science is more seared by this obstinacy ; and it wants 
but a few more such audacious and heartless refusals 
to make thy salvation impossible, by provoking the 
Almighty to shut the door of the ^ Hiding Place' 
for ever. 



QL ASQOW: 

PRINTED BT 8. AND T. DUNN, 

DNION STKEET. 



WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



Just Published, 16wzo, Price 2s 6d, Second Thousand, 

I, WHY WEEPEST THOU? 

Or, The Cby fkom Ramah Hushed by the Voice from Heaven. 
In Letters Memorial, Consolatory, and Practical. A 
Manual for Bereaved Parents. 

' This is a delightful volume. Yes ; delightful, though its theme be 
sorrow. It is more than worthy of the author of the "Night Lamp." 
We have seldom perused a volume so soothing to sorrow.' — Hogg's 
Instructor. 

' We safely predict for it a wider circulation and more grateful wel- 
come than even any of its predecessors. Viewed as a Manual for 
Bereaved Parents, it is singularly well adapted to its purpose. We 
cannot doubt that many a bereaved heart will bless him for it, and that 
to not a few, who, Rachel-like, refuse to be comforted, it will be as " a 
song in the night, when their harp has been turned into mourning, and 
their organ into the voice of them that weep." ' — United Preslyterian 
Magazine. 

' The sympathies of those for whom he writes will be awakened and 
secured ; and not the less that it is told with the touching tenderness, 
the beauty and artistic skill for which he is distinguished. On infant 
salvation he does not start any new or curious hj'pothesis ; he gathers 
into one focus the various lights which are cast on the subject from the 
Bible. It will not detract from the author's well-earned reputation. 
The object which he keeps steadily in view is clearly conceived and ex- 
pressed. This gives a character of pervading unity and mutually-sustain- 
ing influence to ail its parts.' — Journal of Sacred Literature. 

' It relates to causes of sorrow so widely spread and so deeply felt, as 
to find a response in the wounded heart of many a bereaved parent, — 



presenting at the same time such sources of consolation as the sacred 
records of truth only can furnish, and the believing parent must enjoy. 
The letters on " Childhood Salvation " are especially adapted to produce 
such an effect, as stating clearly and forcibly the ground upon which the 
agonized hearts of parents may comfortably repose respecting the eternal 
happiness of their little ones.' — Evangelical Magazine, 

* The last, but not the least popular of Dr Macfarlane's publications. 
We predict for it an extensive and abiding circulation.' — Scottish Chris- 
tian Journal. 

' The volume must have a wide circulation. We have read many 
treatises on kindred subjects, but know of no better book to put into the 
hands of bereaved parents.' — Christian Journal. 

* This is one of Dr Macfarlane's best efforts on a subject, in the dis- 
cussing of which he probably excels all modern writers. It is remark- 
able for its pathos and sweetness, and has our unqualified approbation.' 

— Examiner. 

' In the " Letters Memorial " many bereaved parents will bless the 
writer for this affecting record of his sorrows, in which they may recall 
their own. The presumptive evidence for the salvation of all who die in 
infancy, is well built, and the inference strongly deduced, so that there are 
few treatises in which this question, so intensely interesting to many, is 
more concisely and satisfactorily discussed.' — Scottish Press.] 



Just Published, Crown 8yo, Price 55, Second Edition^ 

II. THE HIDING PLACE! 

OR, THE SINNER FOUND IN CHRIST. 

* Dr Macfarlane's work reminds us greatly of the works of Flavel and 
of Baxter, and well will it be for the christian churches when such 
efforts are duly appreciated, and such works extensively read.' — Eclectic 
Review. 



' In the study of the pastor, as well as in the closet of the christian, 
Dr Macfarlane's new book, The Hiding Place, ought to be a welcome 
and abiding guest. It is not only chaste in style and eloquent in 
illustration, but very suggestive of truths, which even ministers do 
not exhibit so fully as they ought.' — Christian Times. 

' It contains a mine of rich, massive, solemn, scripture truths.' — 
Dr Kitto. 

' A sound and vigorous work.' — Scottish Presbyterian Magazine. 

' In it we have the results of careful and scholarly study, and when 
necessary, the process is indicated with sufBcient clearness. The 
theology is the manly wholesome theology of Owen, Boston, and the 
Erskines.' — Scottish Press. 



Jnst Published, Crown Svo, Price 5s, Fifth Thousand, 

III. THE NIGHT LAMP. 

A Narrative of .the Means by vv^ich Spiritual Darkness 

WAS DISPELLED FROM THE DeATH-BED OF AgNES MaXWELL 

Macfarlane. 

*It will ever remain green and fragrant while the world lasts, and 
while youthful piety continues to be an object to the church of God.' — 
Evangelical Magazine. 

' To be at all appreciated, it must be read, and they who read it will 
remember it for ever. We predict for it equal popularity with Newman 
Hall's " Christian Philosopher." ' — British Banner. 

'Dr Macfarlane's book has taken its place already, far above the 
region of mere criticism, in the dim chambers of the sick, and by the 
bedsides of the dying, who have felt that it is "good for it" to be 
there. This is true fame. It is a well-written and charming volume.' — 
George Gilfillan. 

' In every religious family should find a resting-place, and mor 



especially in tlie family of every minister of Clirist.' — United Presby- 
terian Magazine. 

' From out the whole range of English literature, there is no book we 
would sooner put into the hands of a young lady, when wishing to 
benefit her. It breathes the highest poetry, the purest piety, and the 
most elevated devotion.' — Glasgow Chronicle. 

' We would like to see the " Night Lamp " hung up in every sick 
chamber.' — Scottish Press. 

' We do not wonder at its popularity. It is a story of thriUing in- 
terest, told by an affectionate, intelligent, and ardent mind.' — Dr Kitio's 
Journal of Sacred Literature. 



Royal 12mo, Price 6s, Third Thousand, 

IV. THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BIBLE: 

, THEIR SCENES AND THEIR LESSONS. 

* It is no mean praise to certify that Dr Macfarlane has produced the 
best series of discourses on the subject which as yet have been pubUshed. 
The work is the production alike of an accomplished and devout mind.' 
— Eclectic Review. 

' A capital book.' — George Gilfillan. 

'The historic sketches are often admirable. The volume abounds 
with stirring appeals. It has our cordial commendation.' — Dr Kitto^s 
Journal of Sacred Literature. 

' This book should be a domestic book ; but ministers — we say young 
ministers, should study it. It teaches the art of exposition and preach- 
ing not by will but by example.' — United Presbyterian Magazine. 

' Dr Macfarlane has preached from the summits, and solitudes, and 
memories of these *' Mountains," several of the most impressive sermons 
that it has ever been our happiness to peruse.' — Hogg's Instructor. 



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